Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi?
by chocolateee
Summary: When Naruto accidentally signs himself and Kiba up for AP French, he certainly didn't realize what he was getting into. And with a certain Uchiha right on his tail, with very...open feelings for the blonde, it will be quite a year to remember. SasuNaru
1. Say What?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**And take note, that is probably the only time I'll be saying that Sorry it just gets so repetitive and boring and simply takes up space…but you guys get the point.**

**So I decided to take a break from "That's Raunchy"(although the lemon scene is in progress xD). Everyone knows what "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" means (well you should!) and if not…then you probably shouldn't be reading this right now…**

**Anyways, the idea just sort of randomly popped into my head. I'm not fluent in French (but I do take it in school! Heh) but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. There won't be that much of it, maybe a little here and there.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Say What?**

---

"NARUTO! This is ALL your fault!"

The blonde let out a sheepish grin. It really wasn't _his_ fault that he had accidentally signed Kiba and himself up for AP French. If the two stupid clipboards that looked _exactly_ the same ("They all look the same dumbass!" came Kiba's reply) weren't placed right next to each other, they wouldn't be having this problem. So what if Naruto had been a little distracted at the signup desk? One year of AP French instead of AP Design wasn't going to be too bad was it?

"And when I went to talk to Tsunade, she said to talk to guidance! She's the principal and she can't do anything?! What the hell, everyone knows guidance does fucking nothing! All they do is say they'll look it over, then they stick your schedule along with everyone else's that had a screw-up in it and shove it in a desk, leaving it to rot for all eternity" Kiba continued to rant.

"Geez Kiba, chill out man" came Shikamaru's lazy response. The boy was a genius and yet always maintained a cool and bored composure. It sure pissed teachers off when they thought he was daydreaming in class, only to have him come up with the right answer. Every single damn time.

A vein throbbed on Kiba's forehead, threatening to pop.

"I CAN'T CHILL OUT! This is senior year! And yeah I know the second half of senior year is a joke, but there's still the first half! Not to mention I didn't do any "early acceptances" so basically, if my grades slip now, I'm screwed for colleges!"

"So…study."

Kiba looked as though he was going to maul someone over. "Easy for you to say, I'm not a genius like you Nara! You can't seriously just expect me to look over a textbook a few times and actually understand the material! And plus, it's not like you're stuck in AP French! Noooo, you actually GOT the course you WANTED!"

"Kiba, quit causing a scene. Are you hearing yourself right now? You're making everyone look at you funny…" Shikamaru trailed off. The bell rang loudly, signifying that if someone was still wandering the hallways, they were late. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto made their way down to their next class. The three of them had been best friends for a while, for as long as they could remember actually. Naruto and Kiba because they were so similar, both loud and obnoxious. And Shikamaru…well…just cause.

Upon entering the classroom, Kiba still had a sour look on his face. "That is the last time I get an idiot like you to sign me up for courses!"

Naruto slung his arm around Kiba's shoulder with a cheery grin. "You should've just done it yourself then! You should know by now I get distracted easily…"

"Yeah, probably too busy checking Sasuke out or something" Kiba snorted and Naruto gave him a light punch.

"It's not like that! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" the blonde defended hotly. He had never liked the Uchiha much. Well, he had never actually really met him. All he knew was that his stupid annoying swarm of fangirls blocked up the hallways every bloody day! It was hard enough to navigate around the too-small high school, but it was even worse when it was filled with ditzy girls, trying to shove themselves against the handsome brunette.

_Wait…handsome?_ Naruto shook his head. _No, that can't be right. Well I mean, I always did think he was kinda cute but…Ahh! No! I don't like Sasuke!_

Yes, Naruto was gay and he really didn't have a problem with it, neither did Kiba or Shikamaru. He guessed that was why they had gotten closer over the years. Naruto was glad he was accepted.

"Yeah right, I've seen you check him out…"

"Shut up Kiba!"

Shikamaru sighed. "So I guess you two are alright again?" He regretted saying those words almost instantly after they left his mouth because it appeared Kiba suddenly remembered what they had been discussing all morning.

"No! We're not alright! I'm still mad!"

"Aw c'mon Kiba! You've never been able to stay mad at me before!"

"Yes I have!"

"No you haven't!"

"Yes I have!"

"Fine. When?"

"In second grade when you "accidentally" lost my teddy bear!"

Oh yeah. Naruto remembered that. Kiba hadn't spoken to him for nearly a week. It had been the longest grudge he had ever held. Naruto had decided that Kiba needed to get rid of the bear once and for all, so he asked if he could borrow it. Kiba had been reluctant but Naruto was his best friend. So after he finally agreed, Naruto took it home and threw it in the trash. Kiba would get over it. Not to mention, it was probably the ugliest teddy bear Naruto had ever seen.

"Right…I had almost forgotten about that. Well, you forgave me eventually for that, so why can't you forgive me now?" Naruto gave Kiba his best pleading eyes that still sparkled with amusement.

"Because, I'm screwed in this class!"

"You don't know that for sure yet…"

Kiba blinked at him. "Naruto, in case you've forgotten, _I don't speak French!_ Not a word! I've taken fucking Spanish since eighth grade!"

Right….That would be a minor detail to worry about that Naruto, in his haste, had temporarily forgotten.

"Well…you know what they say….there's….always a first time for everything?" Naruto joked meekly, silenced completely by the dark glare on Kiba's face.

"You've taken French since freshman year! God Naruto, if I start failing, it'll be all your fault! And then I won't get into the college I want to go to and then my mom's gonna kill me and then—"

"Kiba!"

"What?!"

"I'll…do your homework for you" sighed Naruto, defeated. He didn't like when people were mad at him! It made him…uncomfortable.

The brunette grinned at him. "I forgive you."

"Yeah, yeah bastard" Naruto said sarcastically. He glanced over to see Shikamaru staring out the window daydreaming. He had obviously lost interest in Naruto and Kiba's argument a long time ago.

Yep. Typical day.

---

AP French was a relatively small class, as Naruto noted. The only people Naruto recognized other than himself and Kiba though, was Neji and Gaara, a couple he only knew as acquaintances, Sakura, a rather annoying girl who was leader of Sasuke Uchiha's fanclub along with…

None of than the Uchiha himself.

Kiba had started rambling to him about something unimportant but Naruto kept his gaze on Sasuke. Ok, so maybe he had a _little_ bit of attraction to him. Only a little bit! Naruto just liked the fact he could always be seen keeping his composure, despite Sakura's desperate squeals of "I love you!" Not to mention that shaggy black hair, with bangs lightly covering his dark eyes. His skin was pale and flawless. Yes, Sasuke was good looking.

Suddenly, his head shifted and his eyes locked with Naruto's bright blue ones. Naruto didn't know but…something in those eyes made him want to just get lost in them. _Ew that sounded like something out a cheesy chick flick_. He broke off the eye contact with Sasuke, a small blush gracing his face.

"Hey Naruto, maybe this class won't be so bad after all! I mean, the teacher hasn't shown up for a while…maybe we'll miss the class completely! Man I hope the whole year's like that—hey! You're not even listening to me! God, focus for one sec! Stop drooling over Uchiha!" Naruto blushed harder.

"Shut up! I told you it's not like that!"

"Yeah and I told _you_ I don't believe that bullshit! You've got the hots for him…" Kiba gave him a wicked grin.

"Argh! Why the hell are you so goddamn loud?"

"Aw you don't have to get too defensive Naruto…you should go talk to him…"

While Kiba and Naruto were arguing, neither noticed the smirk that had graced Sasuke's lips.

"Fine fine" Kiba sighed. "Just don't come crawling to me when you two get together. Cause you know I'm gonna say _I told you—_" He gulped when he saw Professor Hatake Kakashi enter the room with a cheery grin on his face.

"Damn and just when I was almost positive he wasn't going to show…" Kiba mumbled darkly under his breath.

Everyone took their seats and Kakashi began to speak. "I welcome you all to AP French. Now, this is what you should know. This class is designed to be a college level course, meaning homework is optional. However, you should know that if homework is not completed, you will fail the quizzes and tests which make up a good deal of your final grade. I can guarantee that for a fact. Also, in keeping with the mind of grading, like I said, tests and quizzes are a good deal, but you will also have one project averaging around 60 of your grade at the end of the year. It is recommended to begin working on it as soon as you get your partner, which I shall assign you by the end of this week. You may think you have time, but you don't."

Kakashi continued, but this time, his voice was dripping seriousness. "Oh and one more thing, you and your partner better learn to get along, because there will be no switching. Also, if this is your first year in French, which I couldn't imagine why, you have a 90 of failing already. But who knows? Maybe you'll have beginner's luck!" With that said, the grin appeared again on his face.

"Well class, let's get started. Today, we will be reviewing indirect articles and…"

Naruto sighed. He was pretty good at French, but he just hoped he would have a good partner. _Please God, anyone besides Sakura! I'll go a week without ramen if you grant that wish!_ _Hmm…maybe I'll end up with Sasuke?_ Naruto shuddered at the thought...although that would be good for his grade. It was rumored that Sasuke had top grades in all of his classes.

On the other hand, he looked at Kiba who was still in shock over Kakashi's speech.

Naruto couldn't help but feel bad for him.

He looked like he was going to break down and cry any minute now…

---

Sasuke Uchiha saw the blonde make eye contact with him. Naruto Uzumaki. That's right, Sasuke had to do a lot of digging to find out about him. It wasn't that Naruto was a loser, it's just he didn't have that many friends. That was about the nicest way possible to say it. Well, other than the lazy one and the one that was hyperventilating in the classroom right now, Sasuke didn't really see the blonde with anyone else.

He had found the blonde attractive since junior year, but he had yet to make a move. No, he decided, he wouldn't do anything until he got to know the blonde better. It was rather difficult last year when they had no classes together and whenever Sasuke spotted a glimpse of him in the hallway, he was always soon covered up by the annoying girls that followed him around. Everywhere.

If it was one thing he hated, he _hated_ fangirls. They were annoying and pissed him off. God, they practically stalked him! He had gone home one day to see Sakura and Ino, another one of the group, waiting patiently at his doorstep. Sasuke didn't know how long they were there and didn't care. He simply turned around and walked the other way.

He hadn't come home that night.

Perhaps it was this weird, sick obsession girls had with him that made him gay. Yes, he was gay. Of course, he wasn't open with it, but if his fangirls were smart, they would've known by now that no, he was not going to answer their phone calls or take them on dates.

But then again, they had never had high IQ's…

Sasuke had though, of course. He came from a prodigious family and he had to maintain his reputation. He was taking all AP's this year and was rather surprised when Kakashi had begun reviewing over material. He already knew this class was going to be a joke.

There was only one real reason he should stay and that, he decided, was because a cute little blonde named Naruto was in it. Sasuke smirked, knowing that with at least one class together, they would definitely get to know each other better.

He would make sure of it.

---

Naruto dragged a stunned Kiba out of the French room and down the hallway. Naruto hadn't found the class too challenging yet, at least not the first day, but Kiba looked as though half his brain had just been removed.

Yeah, it wasn't too pretty.

"Dead, dead, dead, my life is over…" Kiba began to chant hollowly to himself. Naruto just sighed and walked out of the building. He was glad the day was done. It had gone by fast. Sort of.

"Hey well, I gotta go to work now, but um, are you gonna be ok?" Naruto watched as Kiba shook his head mutely, then began nodding it, then shaking it again. He clearly was not stable.

"It's cool, I'll take care of him" a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Sweet, thanks Shikamaru! You always come at the best times!" Naruto said as Shikamaru pulled up next to them, having had a study last period. He gave him a goofy grin before storming off to his car.

Driving slowly and steadily (Naruto had never been the best of drivers), he pulled up to the small café that he worked in. It was one of those simple, coffee/espresso serving places along with small snacks. It wasn't much, but Naruto made a substantial amount there and plus, he liked the people he worked with.

Stepping quickly into his uniform, he walked out of the changing room and into the main one. There was a rather large amount of people there today, which made Naruto happy. _More tips for me!_

"Hey Hinata, I'll take over for you" The blonde gestured to a small, dark-haired teen. She blushed a lot and had quite a stuttering problem, but she was still nice.

"T-th-a-ank you N-Naruto" He gave her a small pat on the head before waving cheerfully as she went to leave.

"Hop-pe y-you won't b-be too b-busy" Hinata said before opening the exit.

"Nah I'll be fine, take care" he gave her a small nod before focusing at the task at hand.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, what can I get you today…"

The hours passed. Naruto was just about ready to pack up and head out before the door jingled and someone else stepped in. Naruto looked up and almost wished he hadn't.

There was Sasuke, in all his glory.

The raven smirked, seeing Naruto's reaction, and sat himself down at a table for one person. Naruto almost wished he had decided to leave five minutes earlier, like he told himself he should've…

Walking over slowly to Sasuke, he said "H-hi there, what can I get you today?" Damn it he was starting to sound like Hinata!

Sasuke eyed him. "What I want isn't on the menu…"

Naruto felt himself grow redder and redder. _Ahh! This isn't suppose to happen! I don't even like Sasuke! I don't know him! I…_

"Um, could you specify then?" Naruto knew he sounded like a complete idiot, but hey, that's what being in the presence of Sasuke Uchiha could make you do.

"I don't like to elaborate. Figure it out for yourself" Sasuke was satisfied with the pout he received from the blonde.

"Are you trying to make my job difficult?!"

"Perhaps"

"How did you even know I work here?"

"I have my sources." Naruto blinked blankly at him.

"Y-you stalker!" Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch. It had taken him months to figure out where Naruto worked! It had taken a lot of asking around and pretending to be nice to Sakura to finally get his answer, although she couldn't understand why he would be interested to see where Naruto worked.

"I'm not a stalker. You're just stupid."

"How can you just insult me like that?! I don't even know you!" Naruto was getting exasperated. A part of him wanted to stay with Sasuke and get to know him better, and a part of him just wanted to go home!

"Yes, well, maybe we can change that" a hot breath ghosted over his ear and Naruto let out a small gasp. Before he knew it, Sasuke was on his feet, already making his way to the exit.

"See you in class, dobe."

Naruto stood there, a bright red flush adoring his cheeks, and his mouth gaping.

"_You're such a sucker for a sweet talker."_

---

**Haha, as for the last line, that was simply part of a song, sorry if that was confusing in any way.**

**Ok, well I hope you liked the first chapter and I hope it didn't sound too rushed or anything! They kinda both have a "lust-at-first-sight" thing going on at the moment, the true feelings will develop later!**

**Oh and don't be expecting updates for this story unless I get reviews. I'm not trying to be desperate for them or anything but I have limited time and I don't want to spend it on something if people don't even like it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it once again!**


	2. Partner Up

**Back again with the second chapter! Thanks to all the reviews I got and the positive feedback! Oh and I guess I thought more people would understand the title (but maybe it was just me…hah) but for everyone who didn't get it, it basically means somewhere along the lines of "Do you want to come to bed with me?" aka "Will you sleep with me?" lol**

**--EDIT: thank you for TheDeviant for pointing out my French error (geez the ONLY time in the story too -.- i need to edit properly...) it ended up bothering me so much that i just had to fix it, so now, the note is corrected. thank you again!**

**Chapter 2: Partner Up**

---

"_S-Sasuke?"_

_The raven didn't say anything, instead captured the blonde's lips in a heated kiss. Naruto moaned lightly, parting his lips to allow Sasuke's tongue to slip in and caress the inside of his mouth. He could feel Sasuke roaming his hands down his body, ripping his shirt off completely. Naruto began to make a small noise of protest before Sasuke's mouth swallowed it. He felt immobilized as the raven moved his hands lower and lower, finally squeezing the bulge in Naruto's pants lightly…_

_Naruto squirmed, beginning to panic, and pushed Sasuke off roughly. He could feel himself being glared at with those dark eyes._

"_What the hell was that for dobe?"_

"_Quit calling me that teme!" the glare vanished, only to be replaced with a cocky smirk._

"_Why'd you push me away?" Sasuke stepped towards Naruto, once again closing the space between them. He could feel the blond tremble slightly. "I can make you feel good…Naruto…"_

_Naruto shivered upon hearing Sasuke sound so, well…sexy. Seriously, the guy had such a 1-800-PHONESEX voice! 'It's not fair' Naruto pouted before the brunette pushed himself against the blonde in a way, grinding them together._

"_Deny it all you want dobe, but face it: you want me."_

"_S-shut up! I don't want you!" he cried out as he felt hot kisses being trailed down his neck._

"_I know you do, you can't keep pretending forever…"_

_Naruto was about to retort before lips were over his again and he lost himself to the raven's ministrations…_

"SHIT!"

The blonde opened his eyes, groaning in pain. He had managed to roll out of his bed in his sleep, once again, and now was on the cold, hard floor. He got up slowly, rubbing his now sore ass. _Ahh stupid bed! Stupid dream! Stupid Sasuke! Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

Naruto sighed deeply, playing what had just happened in his mind. Ever since their little "meeting," Sasuke was all Naruto could think of! And, quite frankly, it pissed Naruto off. Not just because he had spent the last three days waking up hard, but also because he had let the Uchiha crawl under his skin and get to him. _Damn bastard…_he looked down to see the small mess in his boxers and he wanted to tear his hair out in frustration.

_Fucking hormones…_

He peeled them off before tossing them into his laundry bin. He gulped as he checked out, for the first time in a while, just how much dirty laundry he had. _Note to self, do laundry ASAP._

Cleaning himself up as best as he could, seeing he had no time to shower, he pulled on a fresh set of clothes, not even bothering to try and fix his messy blonde spikes. They always stayed in the same, stuck-up position, despite how he tried to comb them over or make them look neater. He had given up eventually. Making his way out of his bedroom, he walked downstairs to see the house empty.

_Hmm, guess Iruka already left for work_ he thought to himself. Iruka was his adopted father. Naruto couldn't remember who his true parents were, though he had remembered hating the orphanage he grew up in. It smelled like mold and dust and the food tasted like shit. He had been so happy when he had finally been adopted. He liked Iruka quite a lot and knew the man worked hard to support them. He was a bit overprotective at times, but Naruto decided that wasn't such a bad thing.

Opening the drawer, his breakfast consisted of leftover ramen from last night. Yeah, even he had to admit, his eating habits were absolutely disgusting. He had grown to love ramen, for some weird reason, ever since he had been a kid. It had been the first meal Iruka had taken him to after he left the orphanage, so Naruto supposed it had a bit of sentimental value. After that, Naruto had plainly refused to eat anything besides the noodles, until Iruka informed him flatly, that he would die.

Naruto had grown to like certain vegetables after that, though he was still somewhat picky.

The blonde picked the noodles out from the microwave and was just about to eat before he heard a loud beep from outside. _Damn Kiba, you're just gonna have to wait! I _need_ my ramen!_ He had taken all but two bites before the beeps started getting more frantic and louder.

"Fine, fine! Goddamn it…" he mumbled irritably before grabbing his bag and heading out the door. There was Kiba sitting in his white pickup truck with a scowl on his face. Naruto opened the backseat, shoved his bag inside, and walked to the front, getting into the passenger seat.

"Geez, what took you so long?!"

"I was eating!" Naruto defended. "It's your fault you were so early!"

"What the hell you mean _I_ was early? You're always the one late! You should be grateful I'm giving a ride anyways!"

"You should be happy I'm even alive right now!"

"Oh yeah, right," Kiba scoffed "You've got to be the suckiest driver ever! What'd you slam your car into again? A _fire hydrant_?"

Naruto mumbled something, before going slightly red and turning his head toward the window, defiantly. So what if it had been a fire hydrant? It had been a fucking huge fire hydrant! Granted, it had been on the sidewalk, but if a certain dark haired raven hadn't been plaguing his thoughts, he wouldn't have crashed! So, in the end, it was all Sasuke's fault!

"Tch, so how much is the damage gonna cost?"

"Eight hundred, flat" Naruto winced. He hadn't thought the damn hydrant would hurt his car too badly, but his whole front side was trashed. "Man, I'm going to work double shifts at work…in the meantime though," he said cheerfully, "you get the pleasure of driving me to school."

Kiba groaned. "Fine, but you better get your ass out of the house after the first beep."

"Hey! That's not fair…"

The conversation continued all the way until they reached the high school. "Great, look how late we are idiot! There's no parking spaces left…" Naruto simply shot him a look.

"Park in the teacher's lot then."

"Are you fucking crazy?! No students are allowed to park there!"

"Sheesh, what's stuck up your ass?" he laughed at the glare he got. "You're such a prude Kiba. No one cares, I've done it before! Fine, don't park in the teacher's lot, but drop me off here so I don't have to walk a mile and a half from where the juniors park…"

"Like hell I will…" Kiba muttered before pulling up next a black beamer. Naruto smirked slightly. _Worked like a charm._ Seriously though, it was considered an offence if a student was caught in the teacher's parking lot, mostly because then teachers ran out of spaces and made complaints to Tsunade who, clearly, did not sign up to be a principal to hear teachers bitching about parking. Nope.

Both got out of the car, with Kiba shaking his head in disapproval. "Dude, if we get caught, it's all on you…"

Naruto's smirk widened before he dragged Kiba by the arm to the front doors.

"Come on, we're already late…"

"And who's fault was that?!"

"Aw man Kiba! Ok…I promise it won't happen again!"

Kiba sighed. It was common for him and Naruto to get into small fights almost everyday, most times about something as trivial as being late (actually that wasn't so trivial to Kiba), but after all was said and done, they were still as tight as could be (although the class mix-up had made Kiba actually _pissed_).

"Whatever."

_Ha! I knew he would give in eventually…Naruto – 1, Kiba – 0._

Walking through the crowded and narrow hallways, Naruto suddenly caught a glimpse of the person he had least wanted to see. Ever.

Sasuke was coming straight towards him, surrounded by his ever-present mob of fangirls. They swarmed around him, touching him and showering him with compliments. At that, Naruto couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. Sasuke looked as though he was trying to keep his temper in check, with the way his eyes were narrowed dangerously. He turned up to look at who dared laugh at him and once again met sparkling blue eyes. He then saw Naruto immediately look away, clearly embarrassed over the fact their eyes always just somehow seemed to meet.

Pushing and shoving now, Sasuke, none-too-gently, made his way through the pack of girls, and walked right up to Naruto, who laughter had died a while ago. He now looked rather nervous and almost…scared?

"You've been avoiding me?"

"Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!" Naruto shook his head fiercely. He hadn't been avoiding him! Well…maybe a little. But whenever the blonde looked at the raven, he got a weird sort of fluttering feeling in his stomach and it made him feel rather…awkward. So, when Sasuke had tried to shoot him a look, he would usually turn (or run) away as fast as he could. He didn't know why he chose to actually talk to him this time.

"Dobe. You've been avoiding me." Sasuke stated plainly. This time it was a statement and not a question.

"Will you cut it out teme?! I'm not a dobe!"

"Hmm…" the raven leaned in closer. Naruto could smell the cologne Sasuke was wearing. It smelled quite good in fact, so good that he had to resist the urge to bury himself in Sasuke's collar.

God, he hated the way Sasuke made him feel, like a stupid schoolgirl that kept blushing! Naruto knew he was now, he could practically feel the heat radiating off his cheeks. Sasuke said nothing more, instead walking away, but not before brushing his shoulder with Naruto's. The blonde felt dizzy. He wanted to collapse onto the floor, but he held himself up.

"_Dobe_?" Naruto turned to Kiba's curious look. For a moment, he had completely forgotten his friend was even there.

Trying to act normal, Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why he calls me that…must think I'm stupid or something…"

Kiba decided not to comment on that.

"I don't even wanna know what's going on between you two…"

"Don't make me punch you again dogface!"

"You punch _like a girl._"

The blonde was speechless, before stalking off.

Kiba grinned. _Naruto – 1, Kiba – 1!_

Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto called out to him.

"Hey Kiba, you _do_ know what class we have first period, don't you?"

The color drained from Kiba's face and his grin slowly vanished.

"Oh god…kill me now…"

_Hehehe,_ Naruto thought merrily before striding to the classroom.

_Naruto – 2, Kiba – 1_

---

This time, it was a good twenty minutes before Kakashi arrived.

"Damn, is he always this late?" Kiba idly wondered while Naruto just shook his head.

"Sorry guys," Kakashi smiled "I got held up. There was this huge line at the copier and for some reason all the other ones seemed to be broken and well, I was waiting behind this guy who had to make two hundred copies of a packet and…I assume you know the rest…"

Somehow, no one seemed to believe his story, though no one argued.

"Ok everyone, first thing's first. You will now receive your partners for the rest of the year. Remember, you guys will perform a dialogue of your choice, as long as I approve your topic choice, which, knowing my standards, should be the least of your worries. Now, these were completely random, so don't blame me if you have misfortune…" Kakashi began reading the names off his clipboard.

Naruto zoned out, not listening to half the names being read. He didn't care, unless it was his own of course.

"Kiba Inuzuka and Neji Hyuuga"

The pale, white-eyed boy turned to Kiba, while the brunette simply stared back. He honestly knew nothing about Neji, other than the fact he had been with his boyfriend, Gaara, for almost two years now. And, from the look on Gaara's face, it was clear he was not happy to share his boyfriend with a complete stranger.

"N-Naruto! He looks like he's gonna eat me!" Kiba hissed, slightly terrified of the cold stare that was presented to him by the redhead.

"Oh, wait, wait now. Sorry about that, I read that wrong" Kakashi corrected himself. "It will be Neji Hyuuga with you, Gaara" he indicated to the boy sitting next to Neji who looked much more satisfied with the new pairing.

"And Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki."

"Score!" Kiba nearly jumped out of his seat in joy. _I'm not going to fail, I'm not going to fail…_he began to hum to himself, while Naruto simply gave a small smile. So he was with Kiba, definitely not the worst, although a part of him wouldn't have minded working with Sasuke…speaking of which, Sasuke's name still hadn't been called. It was at that moment that Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes both widened, suddenly wide aware of who the Uchiha had been paired up with. After all, there was only one person left…

"Our last pair: Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno."

Naruto stole a quick glance at Sasuke who looked as though he was going to murder someone. Naruto sniggered to himself. It was the first time he hadn't seen Sasuke look so cool and composed. _Man, I wish Sasuke luck…_

"K-K-Kakashi-sensei!" the yell from the normally stoic and silent Uchiha filled the room.

"Aw that's so great Sasuke! We're going to be so perfect together! I guess it was just fated to happen hm? It's the power of true love!" Sakura latched on tight to the raven, while Sasuke desperately tried to pry her arms off, a disgusted look on his face.

"Get your hands off of me!" he shot another pleading look at Kakashi, who seemed to be laughing inwardly at Sasuke's "misfortune."

"Sorry Sasuke, but there's nothing I can do…"

"You've got to be kidding me…" Sasuke angrily turned away, refusing to say another word. _This wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to end up with Naruto!_

"Well, now that the pairings are set, you should get together with your partner to decide your topic. I'll want those in the next few days or so, so no rush" Kakashi then turned to the board to begin his lesson of the day.

_This is so great, I can zone out all I want as long as Naruto's my partner!_ Kiba thought happily and began making a paper football.

"Inuzuka, pay attention."

Kiba's jaw dropped and he immediately let go of the fooball. _How'd he do that? He didn't even turn around! It's like he's got eyes on the back of his head…_

Ten minutes before the period ended, a piece of paper flicked across the room and landed on Naruto's desk. Already knowing who it was from, Naruto unfolded the paper, to read:

_Vouloir: to want_

_Je. Te. Veux._

Naruto's eyes flicked from the paper to Sasuke's head, which had turned to him, in order to note the blonde's reaction. _What the hell?! He wants me?! _Naruto almost moaned out loud as he thought back to the dream.

"_You can't keep pretending forever."_

Naruto scribbled furiously on the paper: _Damn it teme, leave me alone!!_

He threw it across the room, but before it reached its intended destination, a smiling teacher intercepted it. Naruto gulped. _Oh, shit!_

"Hm, what do we have here?" Kakashi began to uncrinkle the slip.

_Please, please, please, don't read it aloud!_

Kakashi stared at the message. He blinked. There was a pause as everyone was waiting to see his reaction. Then, after a few moments, he began to laugh.

Both Sasuke and Naruto stared in disbelief. Both had the same thought in mind.

_What the hell, he's laughing?!_

Kakashi glanced over to Sasuke, then Naruto, then Sasuke again. He finally got his laughter in check, although it took him awhile…

"Uzumaki, detention. Uchiha…come outside with me for a moment."

Naruto's jaw dropped. _I get a fucking detention and all Sasuke gets is a talk outside?? How unfair is that! I didn't even do anything! He started it! _He watched as Sasuke stood up slowly, then followed Kakashi out the door, which was shut behind them.

Outside, neither of the two made any motion to talk at first. Sasuke was slightly embarrassed. He had never gotten caught before like this! If he got a detention, or anything worse, he was as good as dead.

"Well Sasuke, your note was certainly…interesting" Kakashi eyed him, amused by the glare he received.

"I'm glad to see you at least used proper French."

Sasuke scoffed slightly.

"And…I must say, because you two just seem to entertain me so very much, I'm willing to make an exception, _just_ this once…" Kakashi grinned before stepping back into the classroom.

Sasuke stood there for a moment before following suit. _Did he mean…what I think he did?!_

Kakashi gave a loud clap. "Ok class, a little change is in order. Uzumaki and Haruno, switch partners."

And with those words, chaos ensued.

Sasuke was extremely pleased, nothing would've made him more happy. He was glad Kakashi had allowed them to be together. It would help in his "seduce Naruto" plan.

Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Part of him was happy to be with the Uchiha, and part of him wanted to, yet again, run away. He decided he would stick it out as Sasuke's partner. Maybe after spending some time together, he could finally understand how he felt about the raven. It was weird. At times, he thought him to be the most gorgeous person on the face of the earth and at other times, he wanted to strangle the bastard.

Kiba looked as though he had downright died, as did Sakura, both for different reasons though.

"_I'M. GOING. TO. FAIL."_

"_Wha! No! Why did he switch us?! Sasuke belongs to me!"_

Kiba turned, mouth gaping, toward Naruto, who smiled nervously and clapped him on the back. "Good luck with Sakura dude."

Before Kiba could respond, the announcements blared.

"Whoever has a license plate of '3855 YS' and is parked in the teacher's parking lot had better move _right now_. Oh, and stop by my office immediately, before I drag your ass there myself!" Tsunade had obviously gotten complains from teachers and was _not_ happy.

…

"NARUTO!"

---

**Yes, the second chapter is done! As for the partnering, I didn't want them to end up together without a little bit of a struggle…ah well, at least everyone's happy! Sort of.**

**Please review!**


	3. Detention But Not

**OMG I'm mucho sorry for this late update! Let's face it everyone: lacrosse is taking over my lifeee. I had to get up yesterday morning at 8 (YES IT WAS A SATURDAY) for practice. I swear I think I almost had a heart attack…our first game of the season's on Wednesday meaning that the coaches are gonna grill us like crazy (8 o'clock!) And then there's school and…blah ok the point is (because it seems I'm rambling), I'm sorry everyone for the rather long wait!**

**Wow…that was…a lot.**

**Chapter 3: Detention…But Not.**

---

Naruto sighed heavily, packing up his books slowly, while everyone else around him scrambled around, hastily shoving their things in their backpacks, and running out the door. _That should be me…_He longingly gazed at the exit. It was less than twenty feet away from him…he could still make it…

It was currently his week of hell. First he had ended up getting a detention from Kakashi, without him even really doing anything he might add (damn Sasuke…), and then, since Kiba had blatantly flat-out refused to go see Tsunade, Naruto had ended up outside the classroom with Kiba's keys shoved in his hand and the door slammed behind him. Well, so what if it had _technically_ been his fault in the beginning? Kiba could've been slightly nicer about it…

_"Aw c'mon, I already told you it won't happen again!"_

"_Yes, and I'm sure I believed you the time you said that after you stormed out of Professor Hitachi's classroom in a screaming frenzy because you thought he was 'looking at you' funny—"_

"_He was gonna rape me, I swear!"_

"_Or what about the time you thought 'art project' meant you could graffiti the school walls?_

"_They were so pretty! And then you just _had_ to make me scrub them all off! Do you know how long that took me?! I thought my arms were going to fall off! How did you even know that was me? It could've been anyone else!"_

"_Maybe because more than half your artwork said 'Naruto is the greatest' ever thought of that dumbass?"_

"_What?! It was legible?! Damn…my graffiti skills need some work…"_

_A vein threatened to pop on Tsunade's forehead._

"_The point is, brat, the list could go on and on of everything you've done since freshman year here. But seriously, you know how badly students parking in the teacher's lot pisses me off! I think I've made myself very clear when I announced it the beginning of, oh I don't know, _every single year!

"_Argh, ok! Fine fine, so what's my punishment this time?"_

"_Detention. One week."_

"_What?! That's a horrible punishment! I already spend one-third of my life here, I don't want to start after-school too! Think of all the freedom I'm losing! I'd rather go back to scraping that wall…at least that only took a day!"_

"_Oh for Gods sake, shut the hell up. You should be grateful I'm only giving you a week and not a month! And since you're so intent on cleaning around here, I think that's exactly what I'll make you do. Starting today, I'll assign you a different part of the school to clean, ok?"_

"_Fuck no!"_

"_Well then, you're going to have to suck it up and deal with it! And I suggest you start cleaning your act up Uzumaki!"_

"_Alright geez, I get it already! But I can't start today."_

"_And why is that?"_

"_I…uhh…sorta already have another detention with Kakashi…"_

_Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples hard, trying to numb the headache that was threatening to split her head open at the moment._

"_I'll talk to him. I'm sure he won't mind if you spend your detention with him cleaning."_

"_Yeah, yeah."_

"_Ok well you're free to go Naruto, I'm glad we got that cleared up. And remember, absolutely no parking in the teacher's lot!"_

"_Yep, got it. See ya, old hag!"_

_Naruto closed the door quickly, narrowly missing the flowerpot that smashed against it._

So after seeing the principal and "milling" things over with her, Naruto had agreed to whatever she wanted, a little unwillingly, less things got violent, and ended up with a week of detention! Naruto had always thought he would be on Tsunade's somewhat good side. After all, he _did_ spend enough time in her office to…get to know her better. It wasn't that Naruto was a _bad_ student, (ok the graffiti thing was pushing it a little…) it was just…well, he was a little lazy. Except laziness, unlike for Shikamaru, never worked for him.

_Damn it Kiba…you suck._

But then again, Naruto's stupid guilty conscience was feeling bad again, and he, once again, hated when people were mad at him, so he knew he was just going to have to deal as best as he could. Giving a quick glance to the exit again, he turned away, heading towards the French room.

It was definitely going to be a hell of a week.

Trudging down the hall, he reached the classroom and walked right on in only to see…

It was empty.

Naruto just stared incredulously. _He's…even late to detention too? What kind of fucking teacher is he…? _Then he remembered. _Oh yeah. Not a very good one since I shouldn't even be here right now! Sasuke should be the one cleaning half the school!_

He thought back to the note the raven had given him.

_What the hell am I supposed to do about him?!_

Naruto chose to sit down at the closest desk, impatiently tapping his finger. This was so stupid. If Kakashi couldn't even get here on time, though he wasn't really surprised, he damn well shouldn't have had to come! He should be on his way to work right now…and speaking of work, with a whole week of detention, it most definitely meant he would not be serving anytime soon.

_Waaaaah! My car!_

So much for double shifts…so much for getting his car anytime soon.

He felt like he was going to cry.

Frustrated, he got up and roughly snatched his bag. If Kakashi wasn't going to show, then there clearly wasn't a point in being there. _If I'm quick, I might still make it in time to take over for Hinata…_

_'Throw it away Forget yesterday  
We'll make the great escape  
We won't hear a word they say  
They don't know us anyway  
Watch it burn  
Let it die  
Cause we are finally free tonight'_

Fumbling around clumsily, the blonde grabbed his now ringing cell phone out of one of the pockets and checked the ID. Flipping it open, he answered in a slightly annoyed voice.

"What do you want Kiba?" he waited a second for a response.

"Hm…no greeting huh? I take it you're not in the best of moods…"

"No, actually not really" Naruto retorted. "I get a full fucking week of detention meaning I can't get to work so I can make cash to get my car out of the shop and now, to start it off, Kakashi isn't even here!"

"…That sucks."

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock" Naruto snapped.

"Hey! Don't get all pissy on me! If you hadn't been late—"

"Just shut up Kiba, what'd you call me for?"

"Oh. Well I was wondering if you would run lines with me."

"I'm in _detention_ if you forgot!"

"I meant afterwards, moron!"

"And why would I want to waste my time doing that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because _I'm your friend_ and I'm about to get my _head_ bitten off by a stupid girl who's still pissed that your lover got stolen away from her!"

"He's not my lover!"

"Look, Sakura wants to do some scene between a doctor and a patient for the project and I'm really in no position to argue since, either way, no matter what scene, I still can't speak a fucking word of French! She doesn't seem too keen on trying to help either so I either run lines with you or Shikamaru! Though I'm sure _he'll_ probably still find a way to make me look stupid!"

"Alright, alright, just stop yelling!" Naruto took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. It wasn't that he didn't want to help Kiba, it was just…he wasn't in the best of moods at the moment.

"How far have you guys gotten?" the blonde finally asked.

"Well we figured out our topic, or rather Sakura did. That's about it, but I've got to look over all this doctor terminology now."

"Ok well, I'm really not feeling too great now…and by the looks of it, if Kakashi-sensei eventually _does_ feel like enlightening me with his presence, I'm not going to get out of here until at least six. How about tomorrow? I've got detention but it's with Tsunade and she's always there, though sometimes she tells me she wishes she wasn't. I'll be able to get out earlier and we'll do it then, sound good?"

"Yeah, you're the best Naruto!"

"I know I am. Now I really should be going—"

"Wait!"

"What is it now?"

"Just help me with one word ok? It's the first one on the sheet…"

Naruto sighed. "Ok, what it is?"

"Um…a tit swetat."

"What the hell Kiba?!"

"A tit swetat!"

"Damn it, just say it in English! I have no fucking clue what you're trying to say."

"It's how you say 'God bless you!'"

"You mean, à tes souhaits?" (**pronounced: ah tay sway**)

"…So that's how you say it?"

"Yeah apparently you totally disregarded the accent on the 'a'."

"Oh. Ok I got it now."

"Alright, lemme hear it."

"Aaah tit sweatait!"

"Um…no." Naruto couldn't believe Kiba couldn't even do a simple "repeat-after-me."

"What do you mean, no?! I said it perfectly!"

"Hate to break it to you man, but it sounded like you said 'sweaty tit'."

"…Sakura's gonna kill me…"

Before Naruto could respond, he felt the phone being plucked from his hand. Surprised, he looked up to see his French teacher, smiling cheerily at him. He could hear a 'Naruto? Naruto?!' coming distinctly from the phone as Kiba kept yelling out his name. The blonde dumbly reached for the device, but Kakashi kept pulling it higher and higher away.

"Naruto can't come to the phone at the moment, he's in detention. He'll call you later Inuzuka. Oh and I suggest you get someone good to help you with that pronounciation because if you end up saying 'sweaty tit' or anything sounding remotely like that during your performance…well…let's just say your grade will be highly reflected on it." The silver-haired man flipped the phone shut before handing it back to Naruto, who pocketed it, and thanked God that it hadn't been confiscated.

"You know, there's a school rule against cell phones…"

"Yeah well, it's _after_ school right now and if a certain someone had come on time, we wouldn't be having this problem!"

Kakashi chuckled lightly. "Well, Uzumaki, I'm certainly glad you showed up."

Naruto let out a snort. "Yeah, I'm glad I at least decided to show up on time!"

The teacher frowned in a sarcastic sort of way. "Ah…well you see, I was in the teacher's lounge reading this amazing book and I just sort of lost track of time." He eyed his student.

"Um. Am I supposed to comment on that?" the blonde asked, shaking his head. _That's the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard!_

"Well, it'd probably be better if you didn't. Anyways, Tsunade has spoken to me and it's been arranged for your 'cleaning' to start today. By the way, you haven't thought of a topic for your dialogue yet have you?"

"No…" in truth, Sasuke and Naruto hadn't had any time to talk about it. Naruto still wasn't so sure being Sasuke's partner was a good or bad thing yet.

"Ah, well then, no rush. But I do hope both of you think of something…creative, or at least something mildly amusing." Naruto nodded, taking his teacher's words in. He was going to have to have a talk with Sasuke so he had some sort of idea what he was doing…

"So where am I cleaning today?"

"Oh that's right" Kakashi grinned again and pulled out a bucket of water and a mop.

"Boy's locker room."

---

Grumbling, Naruto glanced at his surroundings. It wasn't that the boy's locker room was too big or anything, but it didn't smell like freshly cut roses and the color of the walls reminded him of puke. He was glad it was after school though, meaning he wouldn't have to deal with sweaty bodies everywhere. In fact, it was now completely empty.

Picking up the mop, he began to clean the floors. Minutes went by and it was beginning to become painfully obvious that, no matter how hard Naruto scrubbed, the floor most likely wasn't going to get any cleaner.

Then, suddenly, a bright idea hit him. He took all the remaining water in the bucket and sloshed it across the floor. _This way, I won't have to keep pulling the mop into the bucket and out! You are such a genius Naruto!_

Mopping around a little more, he decided he needed a little more excitement. He ran across the floor with the mop, gliding from the wetness, while cleaning the whole way. He looked back and saw a nice white streak among the somewhat off-white floor. Happily, he repeated the procedure a few more times.

_That went a lot faster than I thought_. He looked back to see he only had a little part left, the section of the floor that connected with the showers. Determined, he began his run, mop in hand. He picked up the pace, still cleaning away. Suddenly, he saw his feet go into a huge puddle, immediately making them way too slippery. With the momentum he was going at, he knew he was going to fall. On instinct, both his hands went to grab the closest thing to him, anything at all that would prevent him from going down to the soggy floor. His fingers grasped something and he thought he was good, until he felt himself falling again, the 'something' that he grabbed obviously not enough to pull his weight.

Groaning, he pushed himself up, his pants a little wet now from the floor. It was then that he realized what exactly he had pulled in hopes of not falling.

A shower curtain.

A wet shower curtain.

_Why the hell would it be wet? That would mean that someone would have to be using it and that can't be the case cause no one answered when I asked if anyone was in here—"_

"Dobe?"

_SHIT._

Naruto turned around to see none other than Sasuke Uchiha standing in the currently occupied shower, eyes wide with confusion.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you were in here?!"

The raven blinked at him. "I didn't hear you."

Naruto felt like smacking himself. Now that Sasuke said it, it seemed so obvious. With the roaring sound of water, there was no way that Sasuke could've heard him. Naruto's gaze went downwards, his cheeks heating up as he saw past the lithe, muscled chest, down to pale thighs and…

Oh. My…

"Why the hell aren't you wearing clothes?!"

"I was in the fucking shower, did you just _seem_ to forget that?" Sasuke growled out. He couldn't believe how much of an idiot Naruto was.

The blonde's head seemed to finally click what "shower" meant.

"Why are you even in here?! It's after school, do you not have a life?! Do you _like_ to shower in the boy's locker room during your free time?! Damn it Sasuke, you almost gave me a heart attack!"

"You're such an idiot! Did you not know that today's the first day of soccer practice? All the other guys went home yeah, but I decided I didn't feel like getting my car all sweaty and shit so I went to take a shower here."

Oh yeah…Naruto distinctly remembered Sasuke was the captain of the boy's varsity soccer team…

"Does that bother you dobe?"

"_ARGH! _Does it _look_ like I want to be here with you right?!" Naruto immediately used a free hand to cover his eyes, though part of him wouldn't have minded seeing Sasuke's naked body again.

"What are you even doing here anyways?"

"Kakashi made me serve my detention cleaning the locker room" the blonde squeaked out, eyes still covered shut. He felt Sasuke step closer to him and moved his fingers slightly so he could peek through.

Yep, Sasuke was still naked.

"Damn it, will you get a towel or something?!"

He felt Sasuke remove his hand from his eyes, though they had decided on their own freewill to close. He then felt Sasuke's naked, wet body press towards his own. Letting out a moan, Naruto's head made impact with the wall as he felt Sasuke thrust upwards. His erection was slowly stirring to life…

"I'm not _that_ bad to look at, am I dobe? You can open your eyes…"

Shaking his head, Naruto refused. Sasuke sighed and began grinding again, this time more harshly. _Shit…_Naruto felt himself becoming light-headed. He was so responsive to Sasuke's touch. He wanted nothing more than to let himself be ravished. Opening his eyes a crack, he saw the Uchiha, hair plastered to his face, with a slight flush to his pale cheeks.

_God…Sasuke's…so hot._

Sasuke leaned into Naruto and wrapped his lips into a kiss. It was soft and sweet, unlike what was happening elsewhere, and it made Naruto's mind crazy. He wanted more…but maybe he didn't. Hell, he just didn't know!

Then, as if something snapped in his brain, he quickly pushed the raven away. He opened his eyes fully but kept them on Sasuke's face and no where else. The brunette was staring back at him, eyes lusty.

Without another word, Naruto ran out of the locker room, forgetting completely about the mop and bucket. He had had enough. Running right out the door, he didn't stop in fact until he reached his house. Panting, he leaned against the wall and caught his breath. His fingers brushed over his lips, the ones that, a while ago, Sasuke had touched with his own. He secretly wondered if the boys soccer team would have any more practices that week.

If there was one thing he learned today, it was that Sasuke Uchiha definitely made detentions a lot more _interesting_.

---

**Chapter three done! Hm, a pretty long one too. Hey, maybe all of mine will be this long from now on…or maybe if I get enough feedback to keep me happy (hinthint).**

**Alright well, I'll be updating as fast as I can (I really don't know what that means…)**

**Reviews would be fabbbbbbb.**


	4. Practice Makes Perfect

**Ok so I'm a bit torn about this story. When I first started it, I was really iffy whether it belonged in the "humor" section or "drama" and I finally decided "drama." Now, I'm wondering if I should incorporate some angst into this (for some reason I tend to be better at writing it…I'm weird like that). See, if I went with angst, I have more of a plotline in my head of what's going to happen and stuff, but there's a lot of humor in the first couple of chapters…I mean I know there's always plot changes and twists but I'm not so sure if I should just stick with the humor or start making this story more serious… **

**Thoughts anyone? **

**Oh and a special shout-out goes to VanityWantsYou! Seriously when I read your review, I started flipping out, mostly because your story was one of the first _really_ good fanfics I read (for everyone who hasn't read "When Sounds Become Visual" by her, READ IT! There's no words to describe it) so thank you! **

**And to TheSlowestFormOfDeath, a beta would actually be really nice. I appreciate the offer and I'll get back to you on it…it all depends how fast I can update this thing. **

**Lastly, thank you to everyone who reviewed (and wished me luck during my lacrosse game :D)!! **

**Chapter 4: Practice Makes Perfect **

---

Sasuke ran a hand through his messy, black locks. Being a captain of the varsity soccer team for one of the best high school's in the league was not an easy task. The whole team was currently running two miles around the field as their warm-up. Sasuke, personally, would prefer they win every game as they had gone undefeated last year, but it was a lot of pressure for him to work his team into the dirt, yet not look like a total hardass doing it.

Not that Sasuke hadn't dealt with pressure situations before.

He had already mapped out his whole life in his head. Since the day he turned twelve, he knew exactly what he was going to do and where he was planning to go. With his grades and family name, he had colleges groveling at his feet. He wanted to go into law or maybe business of some sort. When, at such a young age, he was asked why his future was already thought out, he had simply shrugged. That was just the way he was.

His parents had obviously approved of his decisions, particularly his father who ran his own law firm. Sasuke had spent his whole life trying to make him proud. He wanted to follow in his footsteps and become rich and successful. It was one of the main factors toward why he tried so hard at school. Playing soccer was even a huge stretch. Sasuke was incredibly talented, in fact the coach had practically begged him to join the team. He had liked the sport so much that he decided that he would make his own decision about it and join the team, rather disheartened by the downcast gaze he received from his father once he heard the news.

_Sports aren't going to get you anywhere in life Sasuke…don't waste your time._

Sasuke was usually very obedient, so it was a surprise to Fugaku when he refused to back down from his captain position. The two of them…hadn't been of speaking terms for a while after that. But Sasuke still loved and respected his father. It would take a whole lot to change that, not some stupid fight about a sport. He couldn't say it didn't bother him though when his father's seat was always empty at a game or banquet. But hey, Sasuke had gotten use to it by now.

Shouting for everyone to sprint the last lap, Sasuke picked up his own pace, lost in his own thoughts. Sure, he had had his whole life planned out. Nothing could've gone right?

Wrong indeed.

The one thing that had set Sasuke's future completely off-balance…

That idiot of a blonde.

Sasuke didn't know how a little crush based on attraction last year had made him have a full out grind-fest in the locker room.

Speaking of which, he had clearly freaked the dobe out since whenever he laid eyes on him, Naruto would go redder than a tomato and immediately glance the other way, seeming to think that by looking away, Sasuke would disappear.

Pfft.

Slowing down now, Sasuke neared the finishing mark. Coming to a complete halt, he turned around to see the mob behind him. Most were just stopping now, pausing to catch their breath although a few stragglers lolled around behind, not being too serious. Sasuke made a mental note to make them run double. He turned his head and raised an eye at Gaara, the other captain who had managed to keep the pace without breaking a sweat. The redhead gave a slight nod, thinking exactly what Sasuke was.

"Ok everyone," Sasuke began. "Get into your position lines and start shooting on goal."

The team began to split up, each person going to a spot on the field based on what they played. Sasuke and Gaara made their way close to goal. Both were strikers and very good ones at that. The two of them, together, had been the reason for their winning streak. Sasuke reared up and got ready, his hand-eye coordination perfect. Then, he aimed a powerful kick toward the goal.

_Swoosh_.

The ball went through the net clean. The goalie blinked, obviously not prepared at all. Not saying that, had he been prepared, he would've caught it. No, the goal would've happened all the same. The goalie had no time to think though as another ball came whizzing past him, at an even faster speed than the first. He reached for it, extending his arms as far as they would go. He almost had it too before…

It joined Sasuke's in the back of the goal.

Other members of the team took their shots, though about half of them were actually blocked. The procedure was repeated a few more times before it was time for a new drill.

"Alright, now find a partner. You'll only need one ball between the two of you. I want you to dribble it back and forth, down the length of the field and back. I had better see some good ball control and a lot of running. And by running I mean sprinting your ass off!" Sasuke gave the soccer ball a hard kick toward Gaara and the two were off, the rest following after them.

Once they had made it seven times to and from, Sasuke announced a short water break. Everyone hustled over to their gym bags and got their drinks out. Sasuke took a few gulps of his own water, before deciding it was far too hot and splashed a good amount onto his head, soaking his hair and face, which he rubbed off a little with the front of his shirt. Seeing Gaara give him a look, he turned to face the other captain.

"What?"

"Uzumaki looks like he wants to have a word with you," Gaara pointed to the bleachers where Naruto indeed was. It appeared he was waiting...

_For me?_

"Take over, Gaara. I'll be right back," the redhead nodded slightly, as he seemed to understand Sasuke's situation. He was never one for words, but as he saw Sasuke jog over, shaking water out of his hair the whole way, he let out a small smile.

It almost reminded him of himself and Neji.

Naruto was dumbfounded. He had finally managed to successfully finish his week of detention, though his arms were quite sore now. Finally having some freedom, he was off to work when he saw the boys practicing on the field…and Sasuke looking sexy as ever.

Naruto watched quietly from the sidelines as he saw Sasuke run and give commands. He had never seen the Uchiha look so…dominating? Intimidating? He didn't know which it was, maybe both, but then again, he had never seen Sasuke look so happy either. Well, not including the locker room incident…

Of course Naruto was not avoiding Sasuke. Of course not! He just…didn't feel like talking to him. Every time he thought about going over to him and striking up a conversation (which really, really wasn't many times), he didn't know what to say. Everything just felt so awkward.

Naruto's stomach did a few flips as he saw the captain begin to come his way. It was then that he started to panic slightly. _Shit, shit I should be going to work right now! Ah Sasuke's coming over! I'm going to be late! Man, after my first day back too! And not to mention Sasuke's shaking water out of his hair!! My god when I saw him spray water all over himself, I thought I about died! No, he shouldn't make me feel this way! I HAVE TO GET TO WORK! _

His mind was clearly a shrieking jumble.

"Naruto?"

The blonde blinked at the sex-god standing before him. He looked almost as good as when he had stepped out of the shower. Though that time, he was all clean and now, Sasuke looked ready to get down and dirty…

"Hey…Sasuke," Naruto gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. He could already feel his cheeks heating up as they always did when the raven was in sight. Crap.

Sasuke noted the red tinge on his cheeks and heaved a sigh. He really hadn't meant to scare Naruto that much. But then again, it had just sort of…happened. It wasn't his fault that his willpower had temporarily left him at that moment.

"Look Naruto, I'm sorry about what happened last week."

Naruto did a double take. Sasuke was actually…apologizing? Not to mention he had stopped calling him 'dobe' and was now using his real name. Before, Naruto would've been thrilled he was no longer called the insulting term, but now, he almost wished Sasuke would call him that again.

"I just…sort of got carried away. I really don't want things to be weird or awkward between us, especially since we've got a project to work on. So, can we just forget about it and start fresh?" Sasuke had an almost pleading look in his eyes. Not that he would ever beg of course.

Naruto stared hard at him for a moment before slowly nodding his head. He knew he would have to forgive Sasuke eventually. It was hard to stay mad at someone who looked so damn good.

Sasuke let out a small sigh of relief. "Good. Now that that's all cleared up, I was wondering if you wanted to get together tonight to work on our dialogue. After you're done with work and I'm through with practice, wanna come over?" He smirked when he saw the blonde nod his head in agreement. "Cool so, give me your cell phone number and I'll call you when I'm finished here."

Ripping a piece of paper from his bag, Naruto scribbled his number down hastily and handed it to Sasuke who tucked it away in the pocket of his shorts. Giving a small wave, Sasuke left to join the others on the field, while Naruto stood there watching Sasuke's ass in those shorts that seemed way too small all of a sudden.

Tearing his gaze away from the "view" and bright red, Naruto left to find Kiba in the parking lot waiting for him, with Shikamaru behind him. Noticing how Naruto seemed to have a sunburn on his face, Kiba and Shikamaru gave each other a knowing glance.

" …What?" The blonde climbed in the car and waited for his friends to explain what that "look" had meant.

"Oh nothing," Kiba began, while pulling out of the lot. "It's just that you just came back from a little talk with Sasuke and now you look like you have a 102 degree fever. There wouldn't happen to be something you're not telling us right _dobe_?"

If Naruto had had it his way, he would've strangled Kiba right on the spot. But since he was the one driving and since he was already slightly late and couldn't risk getting kicked out, he made no motion to say or do anything.

"Aw c'mon, I was just kidding! Lighten up man!"

"Hardy har har. You're so fucking hilarious." Naruto noted sarcastically.

"Hey! Shikamaru thinks I'm funny!" At this, the blonde turned to see his lazy friend in the backseat.

"Don't listen to Kiba, Shikamaru. He's just being a dumbass as usual." Shikamaru turned to stare at Naruto with a small grin on his face.

"I don't have to listen to Kiba. Even someone as stupid as him noticed what's going on," he paused at the dirty glare he received from the driver. "Listen Naruto, I really don't care what's going on in your private love life and I don't care to know. The only thing I'm going to say is that I do hope you're going to use protection later on."

Kiba laughed while Naruto glowed in embarrassment and fury.

"Assholes," he mumbled, turning his attention to the sky.

---

The blonde stood awestruck at the front gate of the Uchiha complex. It was fucking huge! He was tired and had just gotten out of work. It was late outside and Naruto had been hesitant on coming. But Sasuke had called him and insisted he did. So here he was. Of course, Iruka had dropped him off, rather happy that Naruto had made friends with someone as notable as Sasuke. Naruto was glad Iruka was happy to drive him. There was no way he was going to tell Kiba and risked getting that goddamn "look" again.

Opening the gate and walking up to the large mansion, he barely knocked before the door opened for him. There stood Sasuke in a faded t-shirt, along with loose, baggy sweatpants that looked as though they might fall off any second. The blonde gulped.

"Welcome dobe, come in." Naruto followed Sasuke into the house, taking in his surroundings. If it looked good on the outside, it looked even better on the inside. The floors were freshly polished and the paint on the walls had no chips whatsoever. There were numerous rooms, all leading to different places. Naruto simply stared, rooted to the floor in amazement.

"Wow Sasuke…your house is…amazing." The raven simply shrugged, not caring too much. He was use to people thinking his house was the coolest place on earth. It really wasn't all that, not to him anyways.

"Want anything to eat or drink?" Sasuke asked in a rather bored tone. He wasn't in the mood to do anything right now except take Naruto upstairs and…well, yeah. But he wasn't going to rush the blonde into anything he didn't want to do. He had just earned his forgiveness today and he wasn't going to jeopardize it. So right now, he would have to play it out as the polite host.

Naruto shook his head. He was rather interested in seeing what Sasuke's room looked like…

"Well, in that case, let's go upstairs and get started." Naruto followed Sasuke's lead up the tall, spiral staircase. He saw an open door that connected to the master bedroom, obviously Sasuke's parents. He then saw another door, which was closed though, so he couldn't tell to whom it belonged to.

He saw Sasuke open the door to his own room and went inside. It was…rather boring. The whole room was black, white, or gray. It was large, yet it seemed small to Naruto. He made a face at Sasuke.

"Why is your room so bland?"

Sasuke blinked. No one had dared to make a comment on what his "interior preferences" were.

"They're not bland, idiot. They're classic."

The blonde stuck his tongue out at him. "No, they're boring."

"And which color would _you_ recommend then?"

"Orange!"

"Orange has got to be the most _hideous_ color ever."

"It is not! It's my favorite color!"

"Well then clearly we're going to have to get you some more fashion sense." Naruto let out a small huff, falling backwards on Sasuke's bed.

"Ooh Sasuke, you're bed's comfy!" And truly it was. It was the type of bed someone would sink into. One that was really fluffy and soft. The raven looked at Naruto snuggling himself into his bed. _Oh god…_

"Care to come to bed with me then?" Sasuke smirked. He couldn't help himself. Naruto just made is so…easy.

The blonde immediately jumped off the bed as if he'd been burned. He was blushing hotly.

"Shut up teme!"

Sasuke chuckled lightly. "So, where do you wanna go with this dialogue dobe?"

Naruto looked as though he were in deep thought for a couple of minutes. Then…

"I have no idea."

Sasuke sighed. He didn't really have a clue either. Thinking of topics like this were indeed harder than it looked.

"Well, I could be a lawyer and you could be my defendant and I could try to _get you off_ both literally and figuratively…"

"Teme!"

"Or, we could be going out to eat at a restaurant together, maybe ramen or something so then you could see my tongue doing rather…impressive things."

"I'm warning you—"

"_Or_, we could steal Inuzuka and Haruno's idea and I could be a doctor and you could be my patient and I could shove my stethoscope up your ass and have you screaming 'harder, hard—"

"GOD WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"

Sasuke began to laugh then and Naruto couldn't help but notice Sasuke laughing was extremely sexy. Well, Sasuke doing just about _anything_ was extremely sexy.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just easy to get under your skin," the raven teased.

"Psh. Does _everything_ coming out of your mouth have to be a sexual innuendo?"

Sasuke pondered it for a few minutes before giving a nod of affirmation to the blonde who simply groaned.

"Hey, I'm keeping myself in check. You're lucky I'm not pouncing on you right now and…" Sasuke allowed himself to trail off, leaving _a lot_ to Naruto's imagination.

Naruto couldn't help but have a shiver run through his body. He couldn't deny that Sasuke was hot and it was blatantly obvious the raven wanted him. But he didn't know whether the other was truly in love with him or if it was just lust. He paused to see Sasuke staring at him.

"What is it?"

"You know I was only kidding right? Sorry if I keep making you uncomfortable. I guess I'm just good at that…" Naruto was, once again, in awe. That was _twice_ in _one_ day that Sasuke had apologized to him. Maybe…he really did have true feelings for him…

"So anyways, let's get started…" After bouncing more ideas for the next hour or so off each other for their dialogue scene, they finally agreed on acting out two friends playing hooky to spend the whole day out. They came up with a small portion of their script as well.

"Ah, that was tiring!" Naruto collapsed on Sasuke's bed again and almost felt like going to sleep right then and there. Who knew it had been so tough? Sasuke eyed the blonde on the bed. He looked so…cute? After a second, when Naruto's eyes closed, it suddenly hit Sasuke that Naruto _had_ actually fallen asleep.

_That idiot…_Sasuke was actually glad Naruto had decided to sleep in his bed, but he knew it wouldn't be pretty tomorrow morning when he woke up and saw himself in the Uchiha's bed. He groaned at the thought of having to deal with the annoying loudness that early in the morning.

Walking over to the bed, he noticed the blonde's almost angelic sleeping features. His whole face was completely relaxed. Sasuke absentmindedly brushed a few blonde spikes from the boy's face. He slowly and stealthily climbed over Naruto, almost straddling him.

"Dobe…what are you doing to me?" Sasuke sighed. He moved his fingers from Naruto's hair to his face. He traced the closed lids, the whiskered cheeks and the smooth lips. Feeling himself lean in closer, he went to kiss him…he was so close…

Blue eyes snapped open.

Yet Sasuke paid them no mind. He brought himself and closer, finally sealing off the space between them.

Naruto's mind was in a frenzy again. He felt Sasuke's lips on his own…but he couldn't seem to pull away. Instead, he closed his eyes again and leaned into the touch.

The raven was first to pull away. He looked into Naruto's hazy eyes. "Dobe…I—"

The door was suddenly yanked open, causing both Sasuke and Naruto to look up.

Sasuke's eyes were met with cool, dark ones.

"Itachi…"

The elder Uchiha made no move. He only stared at the two on the bed, in a rather compromising position. It was about then that Naruto decided it was a good time to bail. He couldn't focus with the intense stare he was receiving from the person at the door.

"Um. Hey Sasuke, I'll j-just be…l-leaving now." Stuttering slightly, the blonde practically dashed out of the room. Once outside, he dialed Iruka's number to come pick him up. He had run away…once again. Sighing, he looked up to the sky.

_Sasuke, what did that kiss mean?_

Back in the house, Sasuke rolled over onto his back and let out a loud curse, well aware Itachi was still there. He glared at him, getting nothing in return. It wasn't that he hated his brother It was just the two of them didn't really talk much at all. It was weird, when they were kids, Sasuke had practically clung to Itachi as a lifeline. Now though, things were different.

"Well. You have the shittiest timing." Itachi merely gave him a cryptic look.

"Hmm otouto…tell me something. If I hadn't cut in, you wouldn't have raped the poor boy now would you?" Sasuke's glare darkened.

"Shut the hell up! It wouldn't have been 'rape' in the first place and no, things wouldn't have gone _further_. What's it to you anyways?" Sasuke couldn't help the slight blush that arose on his cheeks. His brother had never caught him in something like this before.

"Nothing. I just didn't know you swung that way…" Itachi let out a small smirk as he saw Sasuke turn away from him, not wanting to talk to him anymore. The conversation was obviously over.

"You know…father won't approve of him at all." Itachi turned his back as well, starting to head out the door before Sasuke called him back. Itachi stopped moving, but didn't turn back around.

"Aniki…you don't…you don't care do you?"

Sasuke let out a small gasp as he saw the smoldering look in Itachi's gaze as he faced him once again. It was rare that his brother ever let any emotion come out. He stared at his brother gaze, not backing down.

Finally, Itachi looked away.

"I'm your brother," was all he said before walking away and shutting the door.

Sasuke threw his head back against the pillow angry and confused at Itachi's words.

_What the hell is that supposed to mean?_

---

**Alright with the way things are going, I'm pretty sure this is going to turn anguishy, though not yet. Itachi isn't that important of a character so don't worry about him too much. I'm glad I got this update out of the way but I can't guarantee another one soon. 'That's Raunchy' is in dire need of an update… -.-**

**Reviews would be appreciated.**


	5. Confrontation

**It's been a long enough wait already. Since it's april break, I'll try to update more. And I promise, promise that I'll update another chapter of 'That's Raunchy' before another chapter of this! Don't know when that'll be but it has priority over this (mostly because I haven't updated that in like…3 weeks?). **

**And as for the song in the beginning, I translated it as best as possible. A few words may be off a little, fyi.**

**Edit: Ok a few things, I mostly wanted to correct a few spelling errors that were pissing me off (I have ocd...if there're anymore after this, I'm sorry!) and the whole Sakura thing was kinda random, I don't know if she's actually going to play a big part in the story Oh, also, I don't know why Naruto's ringtone is double spaced like that...but it wouldn't let me change it o.O**

**Chapter 5: Confrontation **

---

_Je veux vivre au bord de la mer.  
Pas n'importe quelle mer mais cette mer.  
Et si tu me quittais demain.  
Je serais toujours là.  
Et quand le déluge il viendra.  
Peut-être tu ne serais pu là.  
Là où l'amour existait.  
Quand nous étions si jeune.  
Et c'est trop, trop, trop pour moi.  
Le choix n'est pas si clair.  
Et c'est trop, trop, trop pour moi.  
D'un cot la fille, de l'autre le sable et la mer.  
La fille, le sable dans son âme.  
Le garçon, lámour que se crâme.  
Une vie qui sést perdu en cherchant une juste revanche _

"Alright so who can translate this song for me?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. He was obviously the only one with that much energy early in the morning. Naruto's eyes were half-closed, while Kiba was already asleep. Whispers and incoherent mumbling could be heard. No one offered to raise their hand.

"Anyone? Anyone at all?" Kakashi gave a sigh. "Well, I guess that means I'll have to call on someone randomly then. Prepare yourselves everyone…" Kakashi closed his eyes and did a little twirl. A few people laughed at his foolishness while others simply hoped they wouldn't get called on.

"Ah hah! Inuzuka, go."

Kiba, who had been snoring up until this point, received a sharp kick in the side by Naruto.

"WHO'S THE MURDERER?!" Kiba cried frantically until, blinking stupidly, he realized where exactly he was. The entire class was looking at him as though he were an idiot, or at least, had some sort of mental problem. Even Naruto couldn't help but snicker.

Kiba's cheeks started turning pink as he lowered his head back onto his desk, not wanting to look at anything or anyone again for the rest of his life. Kakashi let out a quiet chuckle, before redirecting his question to Naruto.

"Um…" _Crap…what was that song about? Wasn't it _clearly_ obvious I wasn't paying attention just like the rest of the class?! CRAP Kakashi isn't looking away. Damn, he really wants an answer…I remember something about a sea…and a guy…and a girl? Maybe? Is that right? I'm so screwed… _

"I'll do it," a smooth voice cut in.

_Huh?_ Naruto and the rest of the class turned to the corner of the room where Sasuke was sitting. He didn't look as put together as he usually did. Perhaps it was the fact that after Naruto had left, Sasuke had taken it upon himself to drink nearly a full bottle of vodka from his father's alcohol cabinet. Not only that, but his father had actually come home early that day and caught him. A fight had ensued after that and…yeah. He didn't want to think about it again.

Even so, Sasuke's voice still contained the confident air it usually held.

"Well Sasuke, since you volunteered so nicely, please go on," Kakashi gave him a wink, fully aware why he had decided to put himself on the spotlight.

Giving his teacher a small glare, he began.

"So basically…" _Oh what the hell. I'll just translate the whole thing._

He took a breath and stole a glance at Naruto who had his eyes intent on him and started to speak.

"I want to live beside the sea  
Not any sea, but this sea  
And if you left me tomorrow  
I would always be there."

The whole class was fixed on Sasuke's voice, especially Naruto. There was something about it that was just so…soothing. Its cocky demeanor had suddenly vanished. Instead, it was softer, more calming.

"And when the flood comes  
Perhaps you would no longer be there  
There, where love existed  
When we were so young."

Naruto caught Sasuke's eye again and a silent connection seemed to be made and understood.

"And it's too much, too much, too much for me  
The choice is not so clear  
And it's too much, too much, too much for me  
On one side the girl, on the other the sand and the sea  
The girl, the sand in her soul  
The boy, love that burns  
A life that was lost while searching for just revenge."

Sasuke finished and Kakashi gave him a smile.

"That was good Sasuke. Really good in fact." Sasuke said nothing, merely shrugging his shoulders. He was aware of one particular pair of eyes on him, yet me made no motion to say or do anything.

If Naruto wanted to watch him all class, so be it.

---

The bell rang, signifying the end of the period, and everyone began to take their belongings and pack up. Naruto and Kiba made it into the hallway quickly before the swarm of people ran them over.

"Hey dude. I'm…I'm gonna be a little late for math. Tell the teacher I'm in the bathroom or something." Kiba gave Naruto a questioning look, curiosity evident in his eyes.

"Where're you going?" he asked.

"I just have to see something real quick. It's not a big deal man, I'll catch you later," Naruto shooed his friend away. He had to see him before he left…

Kiba simply shook his head before beginning to walk off.

"Yo, Naruto. Kurenai's not going to take your 'bathroom' excuse. Especially if you're taking longer than five minutes…which should be the case if you're meeting Uchiha," Kiba said while grinning.

"Well have Shikamaru come up with a better excuse then!" Naruto hadn't fully processed the last part of Kiba's message until…

"And shut the fuck up!" But Kiba was already down the hallway.

Growling irritably, he waited as Sasuke took his time, apparently being the last one to leave the classroom. When the raven had a foot out, Naruto, who had grown extremely impatient, dragged him right out the door.

Sasuke couldn't suppress the smirk.

"You were waiting for me?"

Naruto bit his lip. He didn't mean to get so anxious. It was just…

"Were you taking that long on purpose?" Seeing Sasuke nod, Naruto grumbled a barely noticeably 'asshole' under his breath. Sasuke backed away from him, leaning on a locker.

"So dobe, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Upon hearing no response from Naruto, Sasuke began to get up. He was choosing to be late for his next class for this little encounter. If Naruto wasn't even going to say anything, he might as well leave.

"Wait!" Sasuke felt his hand being tugged back and he turned around, surprised. Naruto immediately let go of his hand and refused to meet his eye.

"What is it, dobe?"

"I…I—"

"Sasuke!!!"

And with that, the mood was instantly killed.

So Sasuke hadn't been the last one out of the classroom.

The raven winced with anger and annoyance as he felt a pair of arms latch around him and squeeze him a death grip. Breathing was proving to be rather difficult…

"Sakura, get the fuck off of me!" Sasuke gritted his teeth and waited for the girl to remove herself from him, though she only loosened her arms slightly.

"Aw but Sasuke, aren't you happy to see me?!"

The brunette stared at her in disbelief. "Do I _look_ happy to see you?"

The pink haired girl gave a small pout and leaned in closer, trying to show off her cleavage in her low-rise shirt. Sasuke turned away, disgusted.

"So Sasuke, I was wondering if you wanna see a movie with me tonight or maybe go to the mall or something like that—"

"Sakura," Sasuke interrupted, trying very hard to be nice and maintain his composure. He honestly couldn't stand the girl. But it was not time to get violent. Yet. "I was in the middle of a conversation. So could you kindly leave?"

As if she was just noticing for the first time, Sakura turned around to see Naruto there, a little awkwardly considering Sasuke was being flirted with right in front of his eyes. She glared at him.

"Um, could you go away? I don't see why Sasuke would want to spend his time talking to _you_. So just leave why don't you?"

_Excuse me? What a bitch! _Naruto would've stayed and fought, but it was still too early and this girl was giving him a headache. Besides, he was used to Sakura's tone. She sounded like everyone else who had never taken time to get to know him. He didn't want to stick around and wait for Sasuke when it was apparent Sakura wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

Without another word, Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and stormed down the hall. Satisfied, Sakura turned back to Sasuke.

"Now, where were we—Ouch!" Sasuke's grip had tightened on the girl's arms and he was looking at her darkly. He couldn't believe she actually had the nerve to talk to _his_ blonde like that!

"Sasuke, let go! You're hurting me!" Sasuke drew in a deep breath. Releasing his grip, he turned away and began to walk. He thought Sakura would've gotten the hint by now but she was still intent on following him.

"So how about it Sasuke? I can totally promise you a good time if that's what—"

"_Sakura._"

The girl looked up at the harsh tone Sasuke had used.

"Let's get something straight, ok? I. Don't. Like. You. Never have, never will. So, _leave me the fuck alone!_" Oh, he was so done with being nice.

Sakura gave him a look before smiling sweetly. "That's ok Sasuke. By the end of the year, you'll be mine I promise." With that said, she blew him a kiss before skipping off to her next class.

Sasuke groaned.

Sometimes, he wished he could've been born ugly.

---

Naruto opened the door to the café, greeted by the smell of warm coffee and chocolate. Waving to Hinata, he went inside the 'employees room' to change his clothes. Hastily stepping into his uniform, he dumped his clothes into a pile near a corner of the room before stepping outside.

He said his usual greeting of 'I'll take over now' before patting her on the head. Hinata gave a small smile. Naruto, with his happy appearance and smile that seemed to be contagious, was truly a bright star. Hinata had had a crush on him for a while, ever since he had started working at the café.

At first, she had been too shy to even say a word to him. She simply stole glances every now and then after her shift ended and his began. Her smile grew, remembering the time when she had let him know how she felt…

_"Oiy, your name's Hinata right?" _

_The girl blushed hard and nodded. This was the first time he had actually spoken directly to her and her nerves were making her stomach feel funny! _

_"Well Hinata, I'm here to take over for you now. Hope you have a nice day!" The blonde smiled widely at her. Hinata, who had been too stunned, gave a meek nod and rushed back inside the kitchen. She cursed herself for not being able to utter even a word! _

_Naruto stared at the spot she had once been. No one had ever run away from him like that before. He sighed. Did she think he was scary? Was it something he said? _

_As the weeks passed, he would greet her every day with the same thing. She had been able to actually form sentences in his presence and a friendship was formed. Hinata was still quiet and still stuttered, but Naruto seemed to wash all of that away. _

_When she had first let the words, "Naruto, I love you" out of her mouth, his reaction was anything but expected. _

_"Hinata…I'm flattered. I really am. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to love me." _

_"W-what do you m-mean, Naruto?" _

_The blonde gave her a soft smile. "Well first off, I'm gay." _

_Hinata was stunned. She didn't know what to say at all. _

_Seeing the look on her face, Naruto burst out laughing. "Yeah, I get that a lot when I let people know. So, I'm sorry Hinata, but I'll never be able to return your feelings." _

_Hinata cast her eyes to the ground, still not being able to believe the boy she loved was actually gay. She didn't realize as a single tear slipped down her cheek. _

_"Hey, hey, don't look so disappointed!" Tilting her chin up, Naruto's smile never wavered, though his eyes looked a little pained. "Don't cry for me Hinata. You deserve happiness…and even though I can't give it to you, I'm positive you'll find someone, someday, who'll appreciate you. So please don't cry. I don't like when my friends cry." _

_Hinata's eyes widened. More tears began to spill out but this time, she herself was smiling. _

_"T-thank you Naruto." _

_The blonde grinned back at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. _

_"I'm sure the person you fall for will be one you won't stutter in front of!" He gave her a pat on the head before heading out to do his job. _

_Hinata remained there, silently contemplating what Naruto had told her. _

_"Naruto…I hope you find someone you deserve too. Someone who'll make you happy forever…"_

Hinata finished changing. Now her feelings for him were simply a brotherly kind of love. She was glad Naruto was never one to make things awkward. Gathering her things, she stood to leave before a noise caught her attention.

_'Throw it away_

_Forget yesterday_

_We'll make the great escape_

_We won't hear a word they say_

_They don't know us anyway_

_Watch it burn_

_Let it die_

_Cause we are finally free tonight'_

_Naruto's cell phone? _Hinata felt a little weird going through Naruto's clothes. She fisted her hand in his pant pocket before pulling out the device. There was now a flashing sign on the screen.

**You have one new voice message.**

Hinata put the phone back. It wasn't her place to be listening to Naruto's messages. Grabbing her stuff, she opened the door to see Naruto serving an elderly couple. They too seemed to be energized by th blonde's perky personality. She waited until Naruto had a moment to spare.

"N-Naruto." At the sound of his name being called, he turned around.

"Oh hey Hinata! I thought you left already." Hinata shook her head.

"I-I was about to. B-but then y-your phone started t-to ring. I j-just wanted to l-let you know y-you have a new m-message." Naruto looked at her thoughtfully. Who could've called? Kiba and Shikamaru both knew he had work now and they wouldn't call him unless it was something that was of dire importance. Other than that, no one really called him…

"Did you check who it was?" Again, Hinata shook her head.

"I-I didn't think i-it would b-be right." Naruto just gave her a wave.

"That's alright, thanks for informing me! I'll check it later." Hinata smiled before making her way to the exit. As soon as she had left, Naruto went inside to see his clothes in a haphazardly pile.

He pulled his phone out and peered at the screen.

**You have one new voice message**.

Pressing '1' to reach his voicemail, he waited for the sound recording to play.

"Dobe, it's me."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Meet me in the park at 8 o'clock tonight."

**End of message**.

---

Sasuke tapped his finger against his desk impatiently. He sincerely hoped Naruto had gotten his voicemail. He knew calling during work hours probably wasn't the smartest idea, but he couldn't wait until tomorrow to talk to him. Not that they even had time to talk that much outside of class.

Casually glancing at his clock, he saw it was a quarter to eight.

_It's about time..._

Stepping out of his room, he closed the door lightly. He made it downstairs and was close to the door—

"Sasuke."

Sasuke paused in his walking and turned around. That voice only belonged to one person, the person he held more respect for than anyone in the world.

"Yes, father?" His father was giving him an odd expression.

"Just where do you think you're going, Sasuke?" Fugaku hadn't exactly forgiven him from the drinking incident last night. He didn't believe in grounding, but he didn't think it was right for his son to just leave the house.

"Out," came the short response.

"Do you think you've earned the right to go out?" Fugaku was a lawyer. He was an expert in all this reverse psychology stuff. Sasuke was hesitant with his response.

"I…didn't know you were going to be home tonight."

Fugaku simply nodded. He honestly wasn't home a lot of the time, but that was because business called. It was not easy to run his own law firm. Sasuke didn't seem to mind the fact he was never home. Well, any issues were never brought to his attention anyway.

"Go upstairs Sasuke—."

"No."

Fugaku stared hard at his son. When was the last time he had ever said 'no' directly to his face?

"I-I mean, I can't. I have to go out tonight father. It's…for school work." Well it wasn't a complete lie, though Sasuke had no intention on talking French with Naruto tonight.

"School work?" Fugaku narrowed his eyes, highly doubting Sasuke's excuse.

"Yes, now I really must be leaving now." Before his father could say another word, Sasuke was already out the door.

---

Naruto sat on the bench, waiting. So what if he had shown up ten minutes early? That wasn't considered desperate right? He wondered what Sasuke had to talk to him about…

"Hey dobe."

Naruto's eyes shot up to see the raven glancing at him with amusement and something else he couldn't quite recognize. He cleared his throat.

"So Sasuke…you wanted to talk?"

The brunette nodded before casting his gaze to the night sky that was already blinking with stars. The twinkling reminded him of Naruto in a way…

"Why were you staring at me all throughout class today?"

Naruto was taken aback by the question before he let out a small laugh. "Damn, you noticed? Well, I thought your reading was really good today."

Sasuke gave a shrug again. "It was nothing."

"No! Really, it was…good. It's weird. I mean, the way you read it today, it sounded so…different. Well, different than how you usually sound. Like, instead of your usual tone, you sounded more emotional. It was like seeing a completly different side of you I didn't even know existed! Is that weird to think?—Ahh, am I even making any sense?"

Sasuke shook his head and smiled. "No, not really dobe."

Naruto tried again. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I thought I had you all figured out Sasuke. And then…you go and surprise me."

"I guess there's just more than meets the eye to me."

"What about yesterday? With that kiss…what was it suppose to mean?"

Sasuke shook his head and swallowed thickly before answering. "To be honest, I don't even know. I mean, I know I wanted to kiss you. I've been attracted to you for a while and it was weird at first…but all I know is that, kissing you last night, felt…right. I'm not completely sure yet, but even though we've just gotten to know each other with the beginning of this year, I already feel there's a good chance that my feelings for you go beyond ones lust."

Naruto nodded and accepted his answer. Kissing Sasuke had definitely felt good, but he was confused too. Was he really feeling _love_ for Sasuke? It seemed way too soon to tell but maybe, just maybe…only time could tell what would happen next. He would wait, wait and see what would happen. He himself didn't even know what he was supposed to feel at the moment and that…that scared him a little.

"I'm sorry for how Sakura treated you this morning. She had no right to talk to you like that."

Naruto was surprised. That was the third time in a week Sasuke had apologized to him! It was definitely a change of subject but he supposed talking that openly with Sasuke was a bit uncomfortable. Still, he felt truly…touched.

"Nah, you shouldn't be apologizing. It's…it's really ok. I'm used to it." Naruto's grin faded as Sasuke turned to him with angry eyes.

"What the hell do you mean, you're _used_ to it? You…you shouldn't be used to it! You shouldn't have to feel like that!" Naruto's eyes widened for a split second before letting out a small smile.

"People haven't always been nice to me. I got bullied a lot in elementary school for being small and stuff. And then, once people had found out I was gay, I started to get teased more. No one seemed to really understand me besides Kiba and Shikamaru…"

"So why then?" Sasuke asked him with a deadpanned expression on his face.

"Why what?"

"Why…why are you always so _cheerful_? I…I couldn't deal with all of that. How do you make it look so easy?"

Naruto pondered the question before responding. "I…I don't know. I guess smiling just comes easy to me. Pretending to be happy seems to make the pain go away, even if it is for a short while."

Sasuke kicked a nearby rock.

"You don't…you don't care what people think of you?"

The blonde closed his eyes. "No. I don't."

Sasuke gave a slight nod before returning his full attention to the sky. Naruto did the same, but not before hearing Sasuke speak one last time. It was soft and quiet, like his voice had been this morning. Naruto wasn't even sure Sasuke was aware he was talking aloud. In fact, he wasn't even sure he heard properly. But there it was, right under Sasuke's breath…

"I wish I could be like you dobe…"

---

**Ok so both of their feelings right now are in the 'progressing' stage I guess you could say! They're both sort of confused as to what they really want with each other but the feelings are definitely blossoming xD**

**As I promised, 'That's Raunchy' will receive another update before this one! (priority!) **

**Reviews would be nice.**


	6. It's Undeniable

**This is the first chapter so far that I've actually written in actual portions. In truth, I've had it typed for a while, I just never got around to posting it. I certainly did have quite a few ideas for it; it's my favorite one so far! I'm not a soccer player myself (I only chose it because it was the first fall sport that came to mind) so I had to do some research (this was when I was procrastinating…in reality I should've been looking up topology and the knot theory for my math project…) and I hope everything's accurate.**

**Hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Chapter 6: It's Undeniable**

---

"You wanted to see me?"

Kakashi looked up from his "novel" to see his star pupil standing before him.

"Ah, the period's over already?" The man had been so caught up in his reading that he had simply lost track of time. Besides, he had piled so much busy work on his students that it was guaranteed to last them the whole class time, most likely more. That had been his lesson plan of the day.

"It ended ten minutes ago," Sasuke drawled in a bored, almost lazy, tone. "I've been standing in front of your desk this whole time hoping that you might take some notice of the outside world, but I guess I had to actually try and get your attention."

"Well…when you put it like that…"

"What exactly am I hear for?" Sasuke had some time to kill before practice, but that in no way meant he wanted to be at this little after-school get-together with, most definitely, one of the oddest teachers in the whole school.

"Oh, right. I want you to organize those books over there," Kakashi stated in a sing-song voice, pointing to a cart near the left corner of the room, with at least thirty books stacked high on it.

Sasuke stared at him for a good minute.

Then, it occurred to him that his teacher was actually being serious.

"Y-you can't really expect me to waste my time doing that right?"

Sasuke could've sworn Kakashi's lips twisted downwards, forming a _pout_.

"Actually, I'm quite positively sure."

Sasuke twitched.

"No!"

"Oh Sasuke, have a heart!" Kakashi pleaded with false desperation. "I still have all those seven page essays to grade from your class! I really can't waste _my_ valuable time organizing books!"

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his temples harshly. "Why me?"

"Because I felt like picking on you today!" Kakashi answered, again with his usual cheery tone.

Sasuke felt like strangling the man.

"Why the hell are you even organizing books anyways?"

"Ah," Kakashi scratched the back of his head nervously, "I guess you can say…I lost a bet of sorts…"

"You lost a bet. _Of sorts_." Sasuke didn't even want to know.

He shook his head. "How did you of all people even become a teacher? No, wait, how did you of all people even become a full-grown man?"

"Oh Sasuke, don't be mean!" Kakashi cried out. "Why did you think I wanted to see you after school? It's not as if you need the 'your grades are slipping, better pull them p fast' lecture. Besides, I just started to look over your essay last night, and let me say, it's certainly not up to par with all your other work that you've done." Kakashi held up the packet of paper and Sasuke saw a whole bunch of pen corrections, on just the first page alone.

He thought back as to what he had been doing that night while he wrote it. Normally, his papers would have close to no markings on it whatsoever!

_Oh…that was the night I drugged myself on vodka…_

"So what exactly are you saying?" Sasuke growled out.

"I'm not saying anything! What I'm _implying_ though, is that if you help me, I'm willing to overlook a few errors, if you know what I mean…" Kakashi grinned.

"W-what?!" Sasuke sputtered. "That's blackmail!"

"Ah," as if that thought had just hit Kakashi for the first time, "I suppose it is."

"That's illegal!"

"…So?"

Sasuke was just about ready to maul his teacher over.

"Aw, it's not such a big deal is it? It'll take a mere twenty minutes and then you'll be out of here before you know it! I assume you were one of the only ones to finish all the class work I gave you today? Perfect, so you won't have any additional homework! Plus, you won't get a bad grade on your essay _and_ you'll get to spend some quality time with your favorite teacher!" Kakashi's grin got even wider, if possible. Never in his life would he dream of actually blackmailing a student, but whenever he played that card, especially with someone who cared about their grades way too much, it worked every time.

"You have no idea how unbelievably sketchy that sounds," Sasuke muttered before, with a scowl, making his way to the bookshelf. He picked up the first book he saw and shoved it into its proper place.

"Gently, gently!" Kakashi chided before returning to his reading (although if Sasuke looked over, he was prepared to whip out that correcting pen) while the raven let out a mild snort before "gently" shoving the second book beside the first.

After about fifteen minutes had passed, Kakashi was the first one to break the silence in the room.

"So Sasuke, I hear the soccer team has their first game of the season tomrrow."

"Yep," came Sasuke's clipped reply. He only had a few more books left…

"Who is it you're playing again?"

"Sand Academy."

"Hmm," Kakashi said thoughtfully, "they any good?"

"No," Sasuke informed him flatly, "they suck. Last year we played them, the game was a joke."

"Ah well, don't go underestimating the opponent too much now…"

"All I know," Sasuke said while trying to squish a particularly fat book into place, "is that they've got a new coach. But that doesn't matter. The whole team had absolutely no skills. No coach in the world is going to save them." He moved the last book in. "Done."

Kakashi peered at the shelf and let out a clap. "Well done Sasuke! It's so beautiful; I'm almost moved to tears!

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke began to grab his bag. He couldn't understand why it was so "beautiful." It was only a stack of books. If there was one thing he learned today, it was that Kakashi was definitely, at least a tad, messed up in the head. Just a little.

"I would've expected no less than perfection from someone of the Uchiha family! Speaking of which, how is Itachi by the way?"

Sasuke's mood was instantly dampered and his hand clenched into a fist.

"He's fine," the boy spat out.

Kakashi, oblivious to Sasuke's desire to never mention his brother's name again, continued his little rant. "I remember when I use to teach Itachi…he was a fine student, just like yourself. But he was never the captain of the soccer team right? He never did like sports too much…"

Sasuke felt himself swell with pride just a little. His brother had never particularly had an interest in sports, but it made him feel better if he just pretended his brother sucked at them.

"…But then again, he was the student body president and president of student council, is that right?"

Sasuke felt his pride die. He forced himself to nod.

_That was something father was proud of._

"Well," Kakashi smiled widely, "good luck at the game tomorrow Sasuke! And thanks again for your help!"

Sasuke barely let a 'bye' escape from his lips as he stomped out the door.

Oh, his team was going to get hell at practice.

---

Sasuke paced around the locker room, trying to loosen up his nerves. No, he rarely got nervous. Especially since they were playing, without a doubt, the worst team in the whole league. He blamed his nervousness due to the fact that it was simply the first game of the season, nothing more.

"Are you trying to dig yourself into a hole, Uchiha?" Sasuke's pacing immediately ceased as he eyed Gaara who was sitting on one of the benches, eyes closed and looking as relaxed as ever. Was he really moving so loudly that Gaara could actually hear his steps? Not that that was too hard though, after all, they _were_ the only two in the locker room. The rest of the team was already out on the field, warming up. Sasuke sighed and sat down as well, reaching for the tape.

"Not nervous at all, Gaara?" he asked as he began to wrap his ankles.

Before the redhead could respond, the locker room burst open and a tall, slim boy walked in. His hair looked somewhat like Sasuke's, though not as spiky, and there was a certain twinkle of a certain something in his eyes.

Right off the bat, Sasuke didn't like him.

"Can we help you?" Sasuke asked coolly. The other looked Sasuke up and down, as if he was trying to size him up. Sasuke suddenly felt blatantly uncomfortable without his jersey on. He was shirtless and this guy kept staring at his chest! Then, the guy had smirked.

"Sorry boys, if I was interrupting anything," he scanned the room quickly. "I was looking for the rest of my team but I suppose they're not here, hm?"

"Does it look like they're here, dumbass?" This guy was irritating Sasuke beyond relief.

"Ooh, touchy aren't we? Well I suppose that's ok," the boy took a step closer to Sasuke, "I like the feisty ones. Mmm, wanna play?"

"Hell no! I wouldn't come within a mile radius of you if you were the last damn person on earth! Now, fuck off!" Sasuke's patience was beginning to slip, not that he really had any in the first place. He saw a flash of anger go through the stranger's eyes before it was gone just as fast as it had come.

"Aw, are you sure about that? I'm sure I could make you change your mind…"

"Sai," a quiet but demanding tone interrupted, "I suggest you leave now. It's not in your best interest to piss Uchiha off, though you've already seemed to do that quite nicely."

Sai turned his attention to the other captain in the room. "Gaara…it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Sasuke rounded on the redhead. "You know this prick?"

Gaara chose to ignore both of their questions. "I didn't know you played soccer, Sai."

Sai grinned widely. "Well wouldn't you know? I try out for the team and bam! Just like that, I'm a natural. Guess I'm taking over your legacy. After all, you sold us out to come here. I'll show you that was a mistake." He was half-joking, but his voice lacked amusement.

"I heard you guys got a new coach."

"You heard right."

"I assume you're a captain?"

"You got it," Sai responded. He turned his gaze back to the raven glaring daggers at him.

"Uchiha…Sasuke Uchiha?" Sasuke nodded, not saying a word.

"I've heard about you; the only freshman to make varsity. You single-handedly led your team to quite a few victories. Now, senior, you're a captain most definitely. Hmm, interesting indeed…you clearly won't be a pushover. Guess I should be worried, huh?"

"Yes you should," Sasuke hissed, "if you don't get the fuck out of this room within the next five seconds!" Sai feigned hurt at Sasuke's words but turned to leave anyways.

"Adieu to both of you," Sai said in a light, breezy voice, blowing a kiss to Sasuke. "Next time we meet shall be on the field. I do hope we'll have a good, clean game, now won't we?" His eyes glinted something dangerous as he, not even waiting for an answer, left the room, leaving a disgruntled Gaara and one very ticked Uchiha.

---

When Sasuke first stepped outside, he was greeted by cool air, as well as the screams and shouts of practically the whole student population. The breeze felt good, weather conditions were perfect. Scanning the crowd quickly, the first thing to catch his eye was a huge poster that was being lifted in the air by Sakura and her fellow followers of the 'I love Sasuke fan club.'

_Oh…my…god…_

The poster had a picture of him, blown up to huge proportions, and the whole thing was covered in pink hearts. There was an "I LOVE YOU SASUKE!" written on it, along with a few other things such as "YOU'RE THE BEST!" and "KICK ASS SASUKE!"

Sasuke was completely mortified, desperately trying to ignore the artwork. Had he the time, he would've dashed up the stands and destroyed the whole thing with his teeth.

_If they break out in a cheer like last year…argh, this is so embarrassing!_

Ripping his sight away, his eyes were seeking a certain someone else. It surprised Sasuke a little that instead of looking for his father like he usually did, although he knew his father wouldn't be there, he was looking for a cute, little blonde by the name of Naruto.

_There!_ Sasuke spotted Naruto's blue eyes in between Kiba and Neji's within a few minutes of people gazing. He smirked when he saw the blonde turn to gaze at him, giving a smile and almost shy wave. He waved back and felt his spirits were lifting considerably from his run-in with Sai.

Turning his attention back to the field, Sasuke caught a glimpse of the other team's new coach. He was tall with greased-back hair and a set, cold expression. Sasuke thought he looked kind of sleazy. Right next to him was their referee of the game. Sasuke swore quietly under his breath. He was the oldest referee in the entire league, basically meaning his hearing and sight sharpness was not as good as it had been. Yet for some reason, he hadn't chose to retire yet. Sasuke had had him before and, well, he was too slow to call just about anything. Someone could seriously get away with punching someone else in the face, and that ref would let it go.

_Well…this sucks._

The whistles blew, and after a quick pep talk, both teams went to their set places on the field. As the ball was released, Sasuke felt a familiar sense of adrenalin rush through his veins and he knew, in that instant, that he simply couldn't afford to lose this game. It was their opening game of the season, he had to impress Naruto, and plus, he wouldn't let Sai get his damn satisfaction.

With tremendous noise of approval from the crowd, the game had begun.

The ball was immediately then taken by a member of Sasuke's team with ease. The boy dribbled for a few seconds before sending the ball way up the field to Gaara. The captain moved fast, dodging his way past defenders. He was nearing scoring distance…

_This is a joke, _Sasuke thought, backing up a bit, as Gaara weaved gracefully in between people. There was no need for him to be this close with the way things were going now. Gaara was steadily increasing speed and Sasuke knew he was ready for attack. Being experienced with him, Sasuke could read his movements and one thing he knew for a fact was that Gaara had one of the deadliest shots out there. One big defender moved up to protect the goal, the type of person Gaara could evade easily. The redhead was getting closer to him…

From his angle, Sasuke couldn't clearly see what had happened, but all of a sudden, Gaara was on the ground and the ball had been stolen away by the defense. They flung it to one of their other teammates, who then changed the direction of the field.

_The hell?_

It appeared that Gaara had tripped…that was the only logical answer Sasuke could've thought of. And yet…_Gaara was within twenty feet of the goal. He wouldn't trip. Actually, Gaara doesn't fucking _trip_. Ever._

A murmur went through the stands as well. Everyone had seen Gaara play before. They knew he would not have let a little mishap like that happen. He was always so graceful…

"Yo!" Sasuke shouted as Gaara pushed himself off the ground, "what the hell just happened?"

"Later Uchiha," Gaara began sprinting towards the other end of the field, "we have more important things to deal with." At those words, Sasuke turned around to see the other team well into their area. He squinted to see who exactly was dribbling.

Fucking Sai.

He was close to their goal too. The boy was very versatile, as much as Sasuke hated to admit. He was about ready to take a shot, and Sasuke realized, with a troubled feeling in his gut, that there was no way their goalie would be able to block his shot. Just as he was about to shoot though, the redheaded captain appeared out of nowhere, stealing the ball from right under his nose.

Sasuke blinked in surprise. He had known Gaara was fast, but to get up, run the length of the field, _and_ single-handedly stop the ball from being scored, that had to be some kind of record.

As Gaara moved up, Sasuke ran with him this time, partially to draw off defenders and partially to watch if anything else weird happened. Gaara was closing in again; Sasuke could practically feel the goal coming…

BAM.

For the second time, Gaara lay on the grass. This time though, Sasuke had seen clearly, and it certainly wasn't an accident. A defender had gone up on him, but instead of aiming for the ball, he had aimed for Gaara instead, basically smashing into him with all his might. The ball had once again been picked up and stolen.

"Call the damn charge!" Sasuke yelled in anger and desperation. But then, remembering who exactly the ref was, he knew they wouldn't have a chance with cards.

_This is fucking ridiculous!_

"Shut up Uchiha," Gaara ground out as he got up again, this time slightly shakier.

"Gaara—"

"I said shut up!" Gaara began to pick up his pace again. "Let me deal with this!"

Sasuke let out a sigh of frustration. He knew there was nothing he could do to change Gaara's mind. That was just the type of person he was. He noticed that his coach was trying to signal a time-out but apparently that wasn't coming across clear enough. He let out a snort, remembering Sai's words of a 'clean game.' What a goddamn hypocrite.

_"Clean" game my ass! I swear if this happens again…_

Over in the crowd, every person except for the referee could hear the roars of "FOUL! FOUL!" Naruto shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Turning to his right, he could see Neji gripping the bleachers underneath hard, knuckles turning white. He had a frown and his face was tight with worry, the only time Naruto had actually seen emotion in those pale eyes. Over to his left, Kiba was swearing loudly.

"I'm going to knock that ref's fucking lights out if he doesn't make a fucking call!" Kiba snarled, while punching the air and wishing it were the referee's face. Naruto mentally agreed.

Back on the field, Sasuke saw again how Sai had the ball, was close to scoring, before Gaara used some god-like speed to steal it away. This time, Sasuke went down, meeting with Gaara in the middle, who had Sai right on his tail. Gaara kicked the ball to Sasuke and the two of them started a "give and go" sort of thing, just like they had been working on in practice. After Gaara had delivered the first pass though, Sasuke, out of the corner of his eye, saw the redhead fall to his knees, though no one was currently near him. He began coughing, violent hacks erupting from his throat along with a few specks of blood.

He's pushing himself past his body capabilities…Sasuke paused in running, concern flooding his body. His slowing down though resulted in Sai being about to get in front of him. 

"Come and see if you can get past me Sasuke," Sai whispered with malicious eyes. Before Sasuke could say or do anything, he felt his jersey being pulled harshly in the front, and before he knew it, his face made impact with the grass.

_Fuck this!_

Getting up, Sasuke spat dirt out of his mouth before turning around to see Sai's smug gaze. Not giving a damn about the rules, the game, or basically anything, Sasuke let his fist fly, making sure to nail Sai. Hard.

Whatever happened next was a blur. All Sasuke was aware of was the fact that he was rolling around, wrestling with Sai, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Gaara beating down some other guy, obviously feeling a little better. The only sound that could be heard was the screeching from the spectators, while somewhere in the background whistles were going off. Before Sasuke's vision completely faded, he was almost positive, even half-rolling on the field, he could see Naruto's worried eyes staring at him.

---

"I can't believe you actually did that!"

"Yeah well, believe it! That guy was fucking retarded I swear!"

"Aw, wanted to save your precious Uchiha?"

And that was the conversation Sasuke woke up to.

His head felt kind of groggy; his mind in a haze. A distinct shooting pain was making itself known through his hand. He looked down to see bandages wrapped around his knuckles. Looking up, he saw Kiba in a headlock.

"Lemme go! Lemme go! L-look!" Kiba choked out, "He's awake!"

With that, Naruto instantly dropped his arms, leaning against the wall. It was then that Sasuke took aware of surroundings, realizing he was in the school's infirmary. He wondered how ugly the fight had turned.

"W-what happened?"

"Ok so basically you punched that kid who was playing dirty the whole time and then Gaara saw what was happening and he took out the closest person to him cause I guess he was just pissed like that and then the fight started to escalate and both teams just started knocking each other out, I mean the coaches were fighting too, and Naruto was all worried about you and shit so he came tearing down those bleachers and onto the field and he pulled that kid you were fighting off of you, but he still managed to get you pretty good, and then Naruto finished beating the crap out of him before he started flipping out, saying you were hurt and you needed to get to a nurse and Tsunade was trying to calm everyone down and tell them to stay where they were but Naruto didn't care and he carried you all the way up here and we've been waiting for you to wake up ever since," Kiba let out, all in one breath. He cringed and added a 'please don't hurt me!' to Naruto who had gotten redder and redder as Kiba's story went along.

Sasuke blinked, surprised at Kiba's word rate. He hadn't understood a word of that besides the last part.

_Naruto…brought me here?_

"You really came down to help me?" Sasuke asked curiously. In most cases, he would feel embarrassed. He was Sasuke Uchiha after all. There wasn't anything he couldn't handle and getting assistance during a fight clearly counted as needing help in the first place. But…he was glad.

"Oh man you should've seen him! _I've_ never even seen him run that fast before! He started running down right when he saw you get tugged!" Kiba cut in before the blonde could say anything.

"Oi! Shut up!" Naruto let out a heated puff.

"Didn't know you cared, dobe." Sasuke teased just as he thought Naruto's face reached its peak of redness.

"Who says I—"

"Uchiha."

The three turned to the doorway to see Gaara, being supported by Neji on one side. The redhead had a large cut on his cheek, followed by several smaller bruises. Sasuke was sure that there were more bruises hidden beneath Gaara's jersey.

"I told you to let it go."

"Yeah, and I told myself that I wasn't going to watch you get beat up out there." Sasuke said with a light sarcastic tone. He knew Gaara wouldn't be one for foul play simply because the other team was doing it. No, Gaara had more honor than that.

"You didn't have to get involved."

"I wanted to," Sasuke shrugged. Gaara simply gave him a look before turning away.

"I can fight my own battles."

With that said, he walked away. Neji remained for a moment longer, also giving Sasuke a look. Sasuke nodded and Neji gave a small smile before following Gaara.

"Your welcome Gaara," Sasuke called out softly.

Turning back to the two in the room with him, he met Kiba's gaze and shot him a look. That was all the initiative the brunette needed before uttering some nonsense excuse about going home to feed his cat and heading out the door. Right when he left, Naruto rounded on Sasuke.

"Agh! How do you all do that?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Do what exactly?"

"That stupid invisible eye language!"

"Eye language." It was more of a statement though Sasuke was confused as to what the hell Naruto meant.

"Yeah! So first Gaara gives you a look and leaves, then Neji gives you a look and leaves, then you give Kiba a look and he leaves too! I don't get it! Why doesn't anybody give me a look, huh? Why am I left out?" Naruto let out a pout and Sasuke thought it was probably the cutest thing he had ever seen.

"Trust me dobe, there's nothing to feel left out about."

"But—"

"Who won the game?"

"Oh," Naruto paused in thought, obviously not having a one-track mind. "I think it ended in a draw…or maybe a postponement. Either way, neither team won exactly. But I'm pretty sure whoever that referee was is going to get fired."

"And how did Sai look afterwards?"

"Sai?"

"The kid I was beating up."

Naruto let out a laugh. "I think you smashed his nose in, which would explain your fractured knuckle."

Sasuke felt good. He would take a fractured knuckle for breaking Sai's nose any day.

"So dobe, tell me. Were you really running your ass off to come and rescue me?" Sasuke asked with a grin. He heard the blonde mumble something inaudible.

"Come again?"

"I _said_ I wasn't running my ass off! Leave it to Kiba to exaggerate things! I…I just didn't want you to get hurt too bad. I mean I'm sure Mr. Perfect couldn't deal with a bruise scarring his stupidly pretty face!" Sasuke's grin got wider. He was definitely satisfied with the answer.

"So…you think my face is pretty?"

Naruto's jaw dropped, realizing his insult had turned into a weird compliment in a way.

"S-shut up! I do not!"

"Admit it, you think my face is pretty!"

"Teme!"

"Just say it…"

"No!"

"You know it's true…"

"FINE! I think your face is fucking pretty. Ok? Happy now?" Naruto looked as flustered as could be and Sasuke loved it.

"Yes."

"God, you're annoying," Naruto let out while Sasuke gave a quiet chuckle. "But Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"I…I'm glad you're ok." The blonde said before turning away, the familiar pink flush adorning his cheeks.

Sasuke's eyes widened. Then, he smiled. "I'm glad you came dobe."

There was a moment of hesitation. And then…

"Hey…you know what I just realized? Kiba doesn't have a cat!"

Sasuke felt like smacking him.

Way to ruin the moment.

---

**All right I know there wasn't a lot of SasuNaru action in there but I felt this chapter was necessary. I'm trying to keep things going at a realistic pace here. And then there was a little fluff at the end! (They're falling for each other!) Don't know when I'm going to update next. I have that huge math project I mentioned above that I haven't even really started, plus four lacrosse games this week! I'm getting this out there now so I'll be able to focus on those this week and in the time to come.**

**Reviews make me happy (the review count has fallen :( )**


	7. Friends With Benefits?

**To start things off, I'M SORRY!! Seriously, how long has it been since I've updated? At least two weeks? Ah school's just been crazy lately! My one project had evolved into three and I still have two to worry about at the moment. Not to mention finals and crap leading all up to the week before salvation (aka vacation)…**

**I can't wait until summer.**

**Plus, I haven't been getting along too well with my parents recently. It's all just been very…blah.**

**So sorry again for the lateness of this chapter! I hope it's worth the wait! I really do appreciate all the reviews I received though; they mean a lot! So thanks everyone for your support!**

**Chapter 7: Friends With Benefits?**

---

_Hello?_

…

_Helloooooo?_

…

_Who's there?_

…

…

_If you don't tell me who you are right now, I'm hanging up!_

…

_Damn it, who is this?!_

…

_FINE! I'm leaving. If you call again, I'm calling the cops!_

…

…

_HA! Just kidding!_

_You have reached the voicemail of Naruto Uzumaki. I'm obviously not here right now so leave me a message and I'll get back to you. If you're hot in any way, shape, or form, then keep on calling! I'll pick up eventually and then we can…chat. Or maybe do more than that, if you know what I mean (Cough). Oh, and if you seriously fell for that bit in the beginning, then you're a moron. Or you're Kiba. But he's a moron either way so…_

_BEEP._

Damn it Naruto, you're NOT funny! You've gotta consider changing your stupid voicemail! It's not my fucking fault I fall for it every single time! I just…forget, ok? Did you add that cops line in? Cause I really thought you were gonna bust my ass to the police!! God, you're so pathetic it's not even—GAH! Ok so the reason I'm calling is to let you know I've got a doctor's tomorrow first period so I won't be able to give you a ride. I'll pick you up after work, not that you really deserve it though you dumbass.

_BEEP_.

---

Naruto slung his bag over his shoulder for about the fifth time. It kept slipping off while he was walking and he constantly had to stop to readjust the strap. He wasn't in the best of moods. Kiba had called him at around midnight to tell him that he couldn't give him a ride in the morning and Naruto, already snoozing, hadn't received the message until this morning.

In a rush, he had put his pants on backwards, tripped down the stairs _while_ trying to fix his pants, and, worst of all, eaten toast for breakfast. Toast! He couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten toast…

Grumbling, Naruto came to a stop. His back was aching from how heavy his bag was. He checked the time on his watch. If he sprinted now, he could probably make it to homeroom on time.

Pfft. _Sprint_. At 7:15 in the morning. Yeah. Right. That was a good one.

He hated being carless.

He was about ready to quit altogether when a slick, jet-black beamer pulled up beside him. The windows were tinted and Naruto couldn't make out exactly who was inside. That didn't matter though. All that mattered at the moment was that he got to school without him breaking his spinal cord.

When the window rolled down though, Naruto was more than positive he wanted to do nothing more now than to crawl back into bed. Or maybe under a rock.

It was definitely too early to deal with this. _Way_ too early.

"The hell do you want, Uchiha?"

Sasuke raised a thin eyebrow, but, to Naruto's expectations, his cocky demeanor did not fade one bit. The raven was wearing a dark colored button-down that seemed to bring out his pale skin even more, which made his eyes shine. Along with that, he had on a pair of tight, black jeans. His hair was parted perfectly, ignoring the few small pieces in the back that always seemed to stick up no matter what. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto wondered if he was drooling.

"I take it you're not a morning person?"

Naruto grunted in response.

Sasuke cast a sideways glance to the empty passenger seat next to him.

"Get in."

"No."

"No?"

"I like the exercise."

"Could've fooled me…"

"AH! What makes you think I would've wanted a ride from you anyways?!"

"Because I'm the object of your heart's desire?" Sasuke taunted.

"I don't think so," Naruto answered with a snort.

Sasuke shot him a skeptical look. "Fine, suit yourself then. If you start running now, you _might_ be able to get to first period on time." With that said, the window was rolled back up and the car began to move.

Naruto groaned. He quickly weighed his options in his head. He could either (A) take up Sasuke's offer and just let him drive him to school or (B) attempt to walk and get there probably somewhere in the middle of third period.

He _really_ didn't need another late strike against him.

Rapping sharply against the window, Naruto waited as the window was rolled back down. God, he would do anything to wipe that smug look off the Uchiha's face!

"You called?"

Naruto didn't feel like elaborating, so he simply shortened the millions of insults running through his mind to four simple words.

"Let. Me. In. _Now_."

Sasuke raised his gaze. "Now now, don't you think you ought to be a little bit nicer to someone who just offered you a free ride to school?"

Naruto felt like tearing his hair out. _I knew it was too goddamn early for this! _The blonde finally sighed. "Please Sasuke?"

The raven did nothing to hide the look of triumph in his eyes. He unlocked the door and Naruto climbed in, mumbling things beneath his breath such as "How does he even know where I live?" and "Stalker."

The ride was mostly silent, other than a small argument that had broken out over who got to choose the radio station (Naruto: I'm your guest, it's only fair; Sasuke: Suck it up or get out of my car!) Now, Naruto was leaning his head on the window, very close to dozing off. It wasn't his fault he had had so much homework the night before! He had been so bored while doing his research paper that he had completely fallen asleep somewhat early. Well, early enough to miss Kiba's call anyway. And yet he was still tired! Not to mention Sasuke's prissy, calming music wasn't helping. He really needed something upbeat before he started snoring…

_OH. MY. GOD._

Naruto let out a small squeak as he felt a certain _someone's_ hand on a certain _private_ area. He swallowed thickly. Looking down, he confirmed what he had felt.

Sasuke's hand was resting quite nicely on Naruto's crotch.

Naruto struggled for a moment to form words in his head.

"S-Sasuke…what the _hell_ are you doing?!" Damn, his voice was still squeaky.

"Whatever do you mean?" Sasuke asked in a rather…_innocent_ sounding voice.

Naruto, on the other hand, knew Sasuke was thinking nothing but non-innocent thoughts when he felt the hand constrict and grip him through his pants. Then, it began to move slowly, up and down, stirring him to life.

_Great. Just great. I'm having an erection at 7:20 in the morning!_

Naruto bit his lip, trying to suppress a moan. The way Sasuke's hand was working him…_God, he's gonna make me cum in my pants!_

"S-Sasuke! Stop!" Naruto couldn't keep the quiver out of his voice.

Sasuke pretended not to hear and his ministrations continued. He glanced over to see the blonde all flushed, breathing coming in more difficultly. He certainly looked quite…fuckable at the moment.

Speeding his hand up, Sasuke gripped Naruto's bulge harder, trying to bring the blonde to release…

"Get your damn hands off my crotch and _keep your damn eyes on the fucking road_!"

Sasuke turned to see a car coming towards them and realized that in his distraction to jerk Naruto off, he had swiveled pretty close to the other lane. Knowing that it was either finish his job or die, he sadly released his grip and made a sharp turn to the right, only seconds from coming to impact with the other car. He heard the very loud beeping from the angry driver and screaming coming from Naruto.

From then on, Naruto wouldn't let Sasuke touch him, despite the little problem he was having in his pants. When they reached the school, the blonde got out of the car as fast as he could and kissed the ground.

Sasuke swore.

---

Naruto couldn't have been more relieved when lunchtime came around. The morning had seemed to last forever He had been sitting there in history and having an inner battle with himself as to whether or not to go into the bathroom and finish what Sasuke had started.

_What the hell had he been thinking?_

"Hey!" Spotting Kiba, he plopped down next to him, with Shikamaru across, who appeared to be sleeping.

"How was the doctor's?" Naruto asked.

Kiba grimaced in response. "I had to get a shot. Man, you know how badly I hate shots! They always say they'll only take two seconds, but then somehow, something always manages to get screwed up! Dude, you should've _seen_ that big ass needle! And now my arm keeps cramping up."

Naruto shot him a sympathetic look. Kiba did have a pretty bad phobia of shots.

"So how'd you get to school anyways?"

"I…" Naruto paused. He didn't want to tell Kiba that Sasuke had been the one to give him a ride, mostly because then he knew he was going to get made fun of. _Especially_ if Kiba found out he had nearly had an orgasm in his pants, courtesy of said Uchiha.

"I walked."

Kiba grinned. "Good. You need the exercise."

"_Excuse_ me? What do you mean _I_ need the exercise? I'm in perfect shape!"

"Are you sure? Cause you're beginning to look a little bloated to me…"

"Quit treating me like a damn girl! I'm not fat! Why the hell are you even looking anyways?!"

"Who says I was?"

"Who says you weren't?!"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know!"

Kiba gave him a puzzled look and shook his head. "That…made absolutely no sense."

Naruto secretly agreed but he damn well wasn't going to admit that! Instead, he opted for trying to prod Shikamaru awake. That didn't work too well either. Looking around the cafeteria, he saw Sasuke sitting on the other side, eating lunch alone. Except when the raven did that, he didn't look like a loser. No, it was well known that Sasuke ate lunch alone because no one else was worthy of his presence. Naruto watched as a cute-looking girl walked over to him. He was too far away to hear the exchanged words directly but from the distraught look on her face a minute later as she walked back to her seat, it was clear that she had asked the Uchiha out, and had been turned down. Rather harshly at that.

"Damn jerk," Naruto muttered under his breath. Although a part of him couldn't help but feel glad that Sasuke had turned the girl away…

Kiba picked up on what Naruto had just said.

"Y'know," he said to the blonde with a grin, "if _you_ had asked him out instead of that girl, I'm sure he would've agreed just like that!" He snapped his fingers to emphasize his point.

Naruto thought about punching Kiba in the arm for that comment, but decided against it at the last minute, considering how Kiba would probably start bawling like a baby and he didn't think he could manage that right now.

He went for fork throwing instead.

---

The blonde sighed as he leaned against the doorway. Work really had been hectic these past few days. That meant more running around, more scrambling, more orders to fill. But it also meant more money. And that, at the moment, was something he really couldn't turn down.

Naruto lazed around, looking every which way. What had he been looking for in the kitchen in the first place? Cake? Sandwiches? God, he was beginning to wonder whether there was something seriously wrong with him. The fatigue, the memory loss, that had to add up to something…

Right?

Well, Naruto didn't exactly know. But he was sure it was _something_.

Ok he definitely wasn't making sense again.

Rubbing his temples, he suddenly let out a yelp when he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his back. He had a feeling he knew who it was without even having to turn around.

"Jesus, Sasuke! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Naruto shouted as he turned around to face the other. It was then that he realized Sasuke wasn't loosing his grip one bit. And it was then that he _really_ realized just how exactly close their proximities were. Up close, he could see how pale and flawless Sasuke's skin really was, as well as the distinction of many of his features. Naruto then blinked his eyes, ending the spell between them.

"Gah Sasuke! Get out! It clearly states 'Employees Only!'"

Sasuke's eyes casually glanced to the door where indeed it did say those words. Then, he let out a shrug, obviously not giving much of a damn.

"Why are you in here?" Naruto asked in a slightly panicked voice. If his boss caught Sasuke in the back of the kitchen without permission, Naruto knew _he_, himself, would feel his boss' wrath.

"I wanted to find you."

"Why couldn't you wait until I at least got out there?!" Sasuke leaned in closer, cutting off the limited space between the two.

"Because," he said in a husky voice, "I'm not a very patient person, dobe. And, you're too hard to resist…"

Naruto leaned his head back, trying to find any way to get some more distance between them.

"Um…" _Oh great. I'm sure that sounded like a real smart thing to say after Sasuke just practically just admitted I was hot_.

"Now, let me finish what I started this morning…" Sasuke licked his lips slowly.

"And who the hell gave you permission in the first place to feel me up?!" Naruto felt the panicked feeling growing bigger and bigger.

"You looked like you could use a little…waking up, per say." Sasuke grinned, showing off his perfect, made-for-commercials, white teeth. "Plus, it's not like you were trying to stop me."

"Was too! You just wouldn't listen!"

Sasuke let out a snort. "I didn't see you trying to push me away, dobe."

Naruto blushed. "Well…Well I—"

Whatever the blonde meant to say was cut off when he felt Sasuke's mouth close over his own. Since he had been in the middle of a sentence, his mouth was open, and Sasuke didn't let the opportunity pass as he slid his tongue in smoothly. One of Sasuke's hands began to trail lower and lower down his body, stopping to play with one of his nipples through his work shirt. It was taking all of Naruto's self-control not to moan outloud.

"N-no Sasuke! Not in here! If we get caught, my ass is on the line!" Naruto tried to get out when they broke apart for air.

Sasuke paid no attention though, only beginning to attack Naruto's jaw line and neck. He showered quick kisses everywhere, his hand moving to caress the other nipple. His other free hand moved downwards, tracing Naruto's abdominal muscles lightly through the thin cloth.

"Ah, God Sasuke…" Naruto closed his eyes, wanting more than anything now to simply give in to the pleasure Sasuke was giving him. He still felt a little weird, considering they were in the kitchen in the back of the café he worked in, where anyone could walk in on them…

"Voulez vous coucher avec moi?" Sasuke asked with a wicked grin upon his face, as the hand that was massaging his stomach began to trail low Naruto's eyes shot open and he flushed even harder.

_Did he seriously just ask what I think he did?!_

Sasuke had to fight the urge to laugh. He had only been kidding when he asked, but the reaction on the blonde's face was priceless. His hand had nearly reached its destination now. He checked to see if Naruto was objecting to any of this, but he didn't make a single sound, almost as if he were urging Sasuke to continue. So Sasuke did. He began kissing Naruto's neck again as his hand closed around the other's length…

"OH MY GOD, GO GET A ROOM YOU TWO!"

Sasuke turned around quickly to see the idiotic brunette Naruto always hung out with and another female, with short, dark hair he had never seen before. Kiba looked as though he was going to pass out, or maybe claw his eyes out, and the girl just looked plain, old shocked.

There was an awkward silence.

Naruto just kept alternating between blushing, and then opening and closing his mouth, as though he wanted to say something, but just didn't know what that wouldn't make the situation even weirder than it already was.

Sasuke was irritated he had been interrupted _yet again_.

He was really running out of good curse words.

---

"I am _never_ going to pick you up after work again." Kiba stated matter-of-factly.

It was the next day, and Kiba, Naruto, and Shikamaru were sitting in math class as Kurenai was explaining something relating to calculus on the board. After the little _incident_ yesterday, Naruto had basically dragged Kiba and bolted. The ride home had been quiet, with Naruto busy reflecting on what had happened and Kiba reflecting on anything other than what had just happened.

"Fine by me! The only reason you bother coming anyways is so you can try and get Hinata on a date with you! Trust me, your corny pickup lines don't impress her." Naruto shot back. Kiba gaped at him, beginning to stutter.

"Inuzuka! Uzumaki! Keep quiet!" Kurenai shot them both hard looks.

Both of them ceased talking…for about thirty seconds.

"Damn it Kiba, will you just give me a ride home tonight?"

"Not if I have to see you sucking face with Uchiha again! And what the hell did he mean he had to finish what he started that morning? You told me you walked!"

"Oh…" Naruto paused. "You…you heard that too huh?"

"Damn straight I did. I would've stopped you guys sooner had I known what you two do behind closed doors…"

"Fuck off!"

Kiba merely shook his head. "So where do you guys stand exactly?"

Naruto blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, are you guys together?"

"Together…?"

"In a relationship, moron!"

"No!"

"So you two are just hooking up for fun?"

"No!"

"…Are you sure?"

"No!" _Wait a minute…_Naruto had to backtrack on that one.

"Well…do you guys love each other?"

"I…don't know." Naruto answered truthfully.

"Oh."

"_Oh_?" Naruto asked in a loud whisper. "That's all you have to say after all of that?!"

"I guess you two classify as 'friends with benefits' for the moment."

It was Naruto's turn to go "Oh." Friends with benefits, eh? He supposed he could work with that…for now, anyways.

"So can I get a ride home tonight?" The blonde asked, getting back to their original conversation topic.

"As long as you make sure Uchiha isn't within a hundred meter distance of you, I guess so." Kiba answered. It was then that Kurenai shot the pair another annoyed look and they pretended to be working.

This time it was for a whole two minutes.

"…So you think I've got a shot with Hinata?" Kiba asked hopefully.

"Psh," Naruto snorted, "if you ask her one more time if her fall hurt when she fell for heaven, I will personally beat the shit out of you."

"Aw man, that was one of my better ones!"

"Lord help you then," was Naruto's response.

While Kiba was thinking of other possible pickup lines, Naruto noticed how quiet Shikamaru had been during their whole conversation. Normally, the lazy genius wouldn't say much, except for a snide comment here and there, but today, it seemed he was extra, extra wordless.

"Oiy, Shikamaru. You alright?" Naruto asked, poking his friend lightly.

Shikamaru raised his head from his desk. He looked terrible, with his hair in a mess and bags underneath his eyes. Naruto had never seen him look this bad in his whole life. It wasn't that Shikamaru cared a great deal about his looks. But he had always looked at least…_presentable_ before.

"Rough night?" Naruto joked.

"Aw dude, did you get some? C'mon, who was the lucky lady?" Kiba asked, butting in.

"There's no way he got laid!" Naruto argued back.

"Why else would he look like he just crawled out of a shithole? It must've been so wild!"

"Well maybe he could've—"

"Will the two of you _shut up_?! No, I didn't 'get some' as you put it Kiba or get 'laid' as you put it Naruto. If you guys must know, Asuma assigned me this huge project in history cause he thought I wasn't _applying_ myself! Does it really matter if I _don't_ apply myself and still get the grades? That's what I asked him and he said he'd rather see me work up to my fucking potential! So I get assigned this huge ass paper due all the next day and I stay up till three in the morning attempting to finish it! So right now I have a migraine that's threatening to split my fucking head open and if the two of you don't kindly shut the fuck up about bad pickup lines and making out with Uchiha, I'm going to stab this pencil into both of your throats multiple times or rip out your tongues!" Shikamaru shot them both murderous glares before resuming his sleeping position.

Both Kiba and Naruto blanched considerably, afraid to even speak.

Shikamaru never lost his cool.

He had never sworn as much in his whole life than he did in the past twenty seconds.

And…he never made empty threats.

Both of them remained silent for the rest of period.

Hell, they stayed quiet for the rest of the _day_.

---

**Hope you guys are satisfied with this chapter!**

**By the way, for whoever doesn't know what "Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi" means (although I'm sure I put it in an A/N in one of the earlier chapters...), it basically means somewhat along the lines of "Will You Sleep With Me?"**

**I'll try to update (this as well as my other stories) somewhat soonish. My parents are driving me up the wall though…**

**Please review!!**


	8. Here For You

**Heh.**

**It's been a while huh?**

**I apologize sincerely for the long wait. I know it's summer now and my updates should be coming quicker, considering I have more time to write, but no, my mind seems to get lazier and shut down in the summertime, alas, slower updates. I even had to put off two of my stories for a while…and I've sort of been spending more time on my other main fic, Lavender. So…I beg everyone for forgiveness.**

**In reality…this chapter should've been written and uploaded last Monday…but…oops?**

**Oh and for people who asked, no I'm not French and even further away from being fluent. I just study it in school :D**

**Chapter 8: Here For You**

---

Sasuke rubbed his tired eyes and inhaled deeply. Trying to focus on the road ahead of him probably wasn't in his best interest at the moment. He had spent the whole night thinking of…well…Naruto. He couldn't help but feel the slightest bit guilty for practically raping the boy in what turned out to be many awkward situations. Granted, Naruto had been _somewhat_ willing, but Sasuke disregarded that fact. If he hadn't initiated anything, then Naruto wouldn't have had anything to be willing about.

He didn't know how to approach the blonde and that, frankly, scared him quite a bit. He was Uchiha Sasuke. He feared nothing. He never hesitated. He always spoke his mind and got what he wanted. Now…now he wasn't so sure about that.

He screeched his car to a sudden halt when he became aware of his surroundings again and nearly crashed into another vehicle. He blinked twice before realizing he had tried to run a red light. Now, he was facing heavy swearing and loud beeps from the owner of the van he had nearly charged into.

Sasuke cradled his head in his hands. He was beginning to feel a migraine coming on…

_Fucking Naruto._

He took a small sip of coffee and relaxed for a moment.

_You can do this Sasuke…it's just getting to school…it's only another ten minutes…First thing I'm gonna do when I get there, the raven thought, is apologize. I don't want to come on too strong…though I guess I've already accomplished that. But…maybe we could talk some stuff out, take things slower. I guess that would mean though that we're technically "in a relationship." Hmm…I don't know how he feels about that. I'm over-thinking this…again. I mean—SHIT!_

For the second time in less than two minutes, he slammed his brakes down hard, coming very close to spilling his coffee all over his car. He could hear some more intense yelling from the other drive, though he didn't care to look up and see whom it was.

This was getting to be too much…

If he couldn't function properly now, there was no way he was going to be able to during his classes.

He thought back to his schedule. It was a Thursday…his face brightened considerably. He could faintly remember his homeroom teaching saying something about an assembly on Thursday morning that cut into the first two periods of the day.

Thank god.

---

Naruto kept fiddling with his fingers impatiently. He hated assemblies. They were all the same, always the "cut the bullying crap." In all honesty, he knew no one gave a shit about any of that. It would be a snoozefest for two hours and then things would go back to the way they always had been.

Nothing ever changed. If the message didn't come across in fourth grade, it sure as hell wasn't going to make itself clear in twelfth.

He wished there was someone he could hang out with, but Shikamaru was sick (no doubt from the lack of sleep), and Kiba had decided to skip (simply because he had felt obligated to). So that left him alone. Twiddling his thumbs. Waiting for the damn assembly to begin.

Plus…there was Sasuke.

Naruto still had not a clue as to what to do about him.

Gah…when had life gotten so complicated?

Meh…it had always been complicated. But now Sasuke had been thrown into the mix.

_Fucking Uchiha_.

The lights in the auditorium began to dim and Naruto shifted restlessly in his seat. He saw Tsunade get up and do her principal duty by introducing the group of presenters and giving them a rather intense warning to behave themselves. A few people in the back row whistled and cheered obnoxiously and Naruto resisted the urge to throttle them. The least they could do at this point was attempt to be polite. One of the speakers, a man in his late twenties, stepped forward out of the shadows of the darkened auditorium and began.

"Today we are here to talk about sexual harassment..."

Naruto let out a quiet snort. _Sasuke could really use this…_

"…It is an issue that is quite common…"

The blonde almost felt bad for the man talking to a bunch of foreign high schoolers he had never met before. How many auditoriums had the man gone to before? How many years had he been in this profession, lecturing to inattentive teens?

"…Sexual harassment can be defined as any unwanted touching…"

_Blah blah blah. _It wasn't like this was anything Naruto hadn't heard before.

"…However, it can also be verbal abuse…"

The blonde turned his head to both sides, seeing if _anyone_ seemed to be paying attention at all.

The man onstage finished his rant and glanced around the room. He gazed at random students, sweeping the entire area. It might've been Naruto's imagination, but he could've _sworn_ the man locked eyes with him, if only for mere seconds.

"Now, I know what you all are thinking." The man's voice had turned softer, but firmer. With him being the only one speaking, the sound seemed to bounce and echo off the walls of the large room.

"I can picture you all sitting there, thinking how could _I_ possibly know what you all think. Ah, but I do. You're thinking that this is going to just be another crappy assembly put together by funding money that could've gone to something more important like getting better sports equipment or art supplies."

Naruto couldn't help but mentally agree. And yet…something about this man was beginning to intrigue him.

"You all think that, after this, nothing's going to change. Things will stay the same. There will still be bullying. People without friends normally aren't just going to have them all of a sudden. You all know that what I'm saying is true, don't deny it."

"Now then, you might be asking yourself _how_ I know all of this. Well, it's because I was the same as you guys once. There was once a point in my life where I was in your shoes. I use to go to assemblies thinking they were a waste of time and that the only good that came out of it was cutting some class. We all go through that phase."

Some students were beginning to shift in their seats now, as though some of the man's words were breaking through to them.

"And the reason for that is because all of you," he pointed to everyone in the crowd, "all of you are afraid of change."

The words seemed to place a heavy silence in the room.

"If all of you would just open your eyes and stop being the stupid teenagers that think they know everything, maybe something would happen. But I know, that right now, nothing is going to change. Nothing is going to change until someone takes the initiative to make things happen."

"I know that all of you are focused on me now, but I'm unsure as to how many of you are actually taking in the words I'm speaking. Maybe after today, all of you will leave without feeling any difference at all. But…" The man trailed off, but no one needed him to continue. They had understood what he would've said anyways.

Another speaker took the stage, getting back to the topic of sexual harassment, and Naruto, in that dead silent auditorium, felt chills run up and down his spine.

---

Sasuke didn't quite know what to make of the man who had just receded behind the rest of the speakers. He had pretty much hit what was going on in Sasuke's head right on, and that freaked him out a little.

But now that it was someone new speaking, someone who didn't have the power and voice as the other man, it was easy to fall back into not caring. He felt bad to a certain point, but not bad enough to try to focus more on sexual harassment.

He didn't know how long he had been zoning out for, but the next thing he realized was that nearly all the speakers had finished and the last one was just about wrapping up. He smoothed out an invisible wrinkle in his shirt and edged forward slightly on his seat, at least trying to pretend he had been listening.

"…So now, I'm turning the microphone to you guys. Whatever you guys feel like sharing, please go for it." With that said, the speaker stepped back.

Heads began to turn, people began wondering who would share something or if anyone would share something at all. Finally, the whispers stopped as someone went forward to the microphone, clearing his throat hesitatingly.

Sasuke didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Uh…well…this is kinda awkward." The blonde rubbed the back of his head. "I guess all I wanted to say was that…people can use the word 'gay' in all the wrong context. I mean, someone can joke around with their friends and say something like, "Oh, well that's so gay." But they don't realize how hurtful that can really be. And…I guess that's all."

He quickly returned to his seat. The speakers began to clap and a few other students joined in. Naruto just smiled uncomfortably.

Sasuke looked over to where the blonde was sitting and smiled softly, glad he had had courage to speak up.

_Dobe…_

As no one else else cared to talk, the assembly drew to a close. Students began bustling toward the exit. Sasuke had originally planned to stay behind a bit and try to look for Naruto through the crowded mobs of people, but then he saw Sakura running toward him, and he had decided to bolt.

There would be other opportunities to talk to the blonde. And, if there weren't, then it would be the perfect chance to Sasuke to…create some.

---

_Damn it all!_

Well, so much for "creating opportunities." Sasuke couldn't focus properly in both math and history because of his urge to talk to Naruto, resulting in him _nearly_ getting yelled at by his teachers, which would've been a first.

At lunchtime, the blonde was nowhere to be found. Sasuke had looked everywhere (yes…_every_where). Later, he found out from a random someone that Naruto had eaten lunch in his physics class to make up a quiz.

And because they didn't have French today, it wasn't like Sasuke had a chance to talk to him! Not to mention wherever he seemed to turn, Sakura practically pounced on him. He thought he had made it clear that he wasn't interested, but apparently she was blind, deaf, and stupid. A triple threat.

The bell rang, signifying the school's end.

Sasuke contemplated his options. He could either go home and spend some quality time with his freak of a brother who had the day off, or go into stalker mode and follow Naruto to work and wait for him to finish to talk (he was pretty sure he was banned inside ever since the little escapade in the kitchen).

He had about a two second internal battle before choosing the latter.

Making his way to the parking lot, he just spotted Naruto's car, which the boy had gotten back yesterday, pulling away. Discretely, he followed Naruto to work, thanking the gods that the blonde wasn't the brightest bulb, and wouldn't make anything of a car following him.

As Naruto entered the café, Sasuke parked his car and within fifteen minutes, found himself bored beyond belief. What time did Naruto get off work again? Five? Six? Sasuke didn't think he could last another ten minutes. He never had been a patient person.

_Maybe…I'll just come back in a few hours…_Right now, he needed to go somewhere he could clear his thoughts for a while. He thought about it for a bit before he came up with a good place. Driving quickly, he reached his destination in mere minutes.

The park.

Sasuke took a step out of his car and breathed in the fresh air. It was only under certain circumstances that he liked going outdoors.

A gentle breeze ruffled his hair and he took notice of the tree's foliage. It was a truly beautiful sight. The weather was turning cooler and the days were becoming shorter. Winter was approaching quickly. He had always liked winter better than summer.

Settling himself upon a bench, he relaxed. There was no one around at this hour. He looked up toward the sky, observing the clouds and their different shapes. When had been the last time he had done that? Actually, when had been the last time he had been this at ease?

Before Sasuke knew it, he was out.

---

Waking up groggy and disoriented, the Uchiha rubbed his sore neck muscles. He couldn't believe he had just fallen asleep on a fucking park bench. That was a first. Then again, he had been zoning out a lot recently, no thanks to images of a certain blonde running through his mind.

He checked his watch. 6:42.

_The hell?! 6:42! Shit, shit! I probably already missed Naruto! Aw, fuck._

Grumbling, Sasuke made his way to his car, but a sight made him stop short. His eyes widened.

_N-Naruto?_

It was certainly the blonde, no doubt. But he was surrounded by a small group of other guys as well. Sasuke recognized a few of them in his grade. They weren't especially well known by everyone. Their ringleader had tried all last year to befriend Sasuke, hoping to make himself more popular, but Sasuke had flat out refused, not wanting to waste his time with such foolish matters.

The raven was too far away for any of the others to notice him or for him to hear their conversation, but he could tell it wasn't going to well from the scowl and glare on Naruto's face.

He took a few steps forward, trying to make out some words. Normally, he would've thought himself too high and mighty for eavesdropping, but not when it involved someone he cared about.

"—Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone?! I didn't do anything to you!"

"That's what you think, Naruto. Your little speech at the assembly today, that was cute. I assume you were referring to us, right?"

"No! I wasn't talking about you guys at all."

"Oh really? Well then, who _were_ you talking about then?"

"No one! Now fuck off!"

Sasuke could see Naruto clearly becoming more and more pissed off. He was beginning to feel angry himself…No one was allowed to act this way to Naruto.

"Now now, that isn't very nice. Where did you learn such bad language?" A smirk went through the crowd of guys, obviously enjoying the taunting remarks the blonde was receiving.

"Why can't you bastards just leave me alone?!"

"Because, dear little Naruto," The smirk on the leader's face got wider, "it's always been like this. You've always been picked on. Remember…in kindergarten?" Laughing could be heard from the people in the back.

Sasuke's eyes widened. _H-he was made fun of…even in kindergarten?_ He focused back to attention though when he saw Naruto lunge for the guy, but was restrained by two of the other members of the group. The leader walked up to the blonde and punched him hard in the face. Naruto's head snapped back and he let out a small series of cough. Still, he gazed defiantly at the guy who had hit him.

The leader noticed this and reared up for another punch, but not before letting out a few words.

"Fags like you disgust me."

Naruto closed his eyes, bracing himself for the punch, but it never came. He blinked his eyes open in confusion and saw that the leader's arm was being restrained by none other than Sasuke. The leader tried to move his arm, but found he couldn't surpass the raven's strength.

"Try to move again, and I'll break your wrist."

The words were cold and harsh and the leader nearly froze when he saw the cynical look on the Uchiha's face. His eyes were narrowed and icy.

With a tug, the guy broke free of Sasuke's grip. He opened his mouth to make a comment, and then closed it again. He knew not to mess with Sasuke Uchiha. He knew what it could potentially do to his reputation.

Giving Naruto one last dirty look, he left swiftly, the other guys in the group following him, pushing the blonde to the dirt. Soon, it was only the two of them in the park.

Sasuke stood rooted the spot, his whole body shaking in anger. He was clenching his fist so hard he could feel blood drip from the cuts he had made with his nails.

"I am going to fucking kill them!"

"Sasuke!"

With one look at the blonde trembling on the ground, the raven seemed to remember where he was and got a grip on his emotions. He couldn't expose his anger to Naruto. No, the other didn't deserve it, not at all.

"Naruto…I'm sorry you had to see that." He crouched down and peered into the blonde's face, eyes that seemed to brim with unshed tears.

"No! I mean…really it's ok. I should be the one saying that. Y-you must think I'm pretty weak, huh?" And just like that, that mask was back up on Naruto's face. The one that seemed to show him happy as could be wherever he was.

Sasuke looked away.

"Sasuke, are you ok?" The blonde asked, concern in his voice.

"Dobe, don't smile like that unless you mean it."

Naruto felt his smile vanish. "I-I guess it wasn't too hard to see through me, hm?" He let out shakily.

"No one can smile like that after what they just went through." Sasuke saw the blonde nod his head.

"It's just—Sasuke, your hand!"

The raven glanced down to see both of his bleeding, scratched up hands. He shrugged it off. "It's nothing, dobe. Don't worry about it."

Slowly, Naruto took one of Sasuke's hand in his own, feeling the differences between size and texture. Sasuke's hand was a little bigger than his, yet not as rough. "You…you shouldn't have to bleed for me…I'm not worth it."

Sasuke pulled his hand out of Naruto's grasp and moved it to cup his cheek, pressing down a little harder than intended, watching as Naruto cried out as the large bruise was hit.

"Why do you always do that?!" Sasuke asked him angrily.

"Do what?" The blonde looked genuinely confused.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair roughly. "Always make yourself feel like you're not worth anything!"

"I—I…"

"No! There's no excuse, Naruto. What about the people who actually care about you, huh? How do you think it makes them feel when you act like that! What about your friends, your dad? What…what about me?"

Naruto felt a tear run down his cheek. Sasuke…really did care about him…He felt arms embrace him.

"Stop thinking you're worthless, dobe, because you're not. If you weren't around, I'm sure a lot of people would really miss you. I mean…I would…" Sasuke felt Naruto bury his head in the crook of his neck. He could hear faint sniffling.

"D-didn't think y-you were this s-sappy, teme." Naruto managed to get out between a few hiccups.

Sasuke smiled a bit. "Tell anyone, and I'll kill you." He thought he could make out some sort of garbled laugh from the blonde with that.

When Naruto had calmed down and the tears had stopped, he began to speak. "I was just thinking about that assembly we had this morning. I guess it really does go to show that some people just won't change."

Sasuke looked down at him. Naruto had moved his head, but wasn't making a move to break out of his arms. He knew that was a start anyways.

"Those guys use to always give me trouble, especially when I was little. They sort of stopped for a while, but I guess after hearing what I said today…"

"Naruto, are you—"

Naruto cut him off. "Don't worry Sasuke. I…I think I'll be ok."

The raven knew the blonde was telling the truth. He thought about talking to him about what their whole weird relationship was considered, but decided that could wait until another day. He didn't want to overwhelm him.

Together, as they watched the sun set, Sasuke thought back to how this reminded him of the first time they had talked in the park together, only this time, he had Naruto in his arms, and he had more hope for their future than ever.

---

**Alright, I know I kind of didn't include a lot of humor in this chapter, but that's how I wanted it to go. I'm not exactly planning on turning this into a romantic comedy. I want this realistic. Their relationship should be fully defined in the next chapter or so. And...gah it's short. I'm sorry but I just thought that was a good place to cut it off...**

**Speaking of the next chapter, I just wanted to inform everyone that I'm leaving for vacation to china from August 7-28. And then…school starts blah. So, I shall try to update before then, but if I don't…well…you all will know where I am.**

**Oh, and just a question for me, personally, how long does it, on average, take you guys to write a chapter for a story? Cause this chapter took me literally AGES.**

**Reviewww, please!**


	9. Jealousy's a Bitch

**Yes…I know it's been a long time since I've last updated.**

**I guess it was cause I got a little stuck with where I wanted to take this story next (plus school and for some odd reason, I kept starting stories I know I'll never update like Twisted). But, after listening to lots and lots of music, my inspiration has returned. More or less.**

**Don't worry, this story will never be abandoned, I love it too much! As for the long waits between updates, I'm sorry but I guess that's just how it's going to be now…hope you guys don't give up on me! **

**Chapter 9: Jealousy's a Bitch**

**---**

It was another bad day.

Naruto slumped against his locker, having half an urge to simply smash his head into the metal a few dozen times. He had just received a 64 on his last history test. He hadn't done that bad on the multiple choice, but the short answers and five-paragraph essay killed him. The thing was, even if his essay was pretty decent, it wasn't how his sensei liked it, meaning he had gone from around a B…straight to a D.

_Who gives a fuck about history anyways? It's in the _past_ for god's sake!_

And then he had proceeded to walk into math…

…and had proceeded to walk out at the end of the period with a big fat F adorning his quiz.

Naruto was downright pissed.

_Maybe if that hadn't been the day damn Sasuke kept groping me…_

More than mad though, the blonde couldn't help but feel disappointed in himself.

He sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy locks. He had never really been a bad student. Well actually, maybe he had screwed around a bit too much during his last three years. So this year, he wanted to stop fooling around and get serious. After all, he had to make some sort of future for himself.

Which led to another thing: college. Despite all of Iruka's hard work, deep down, he knew it was going to be tough to scrape together all that money for his tuition. Before, he had never really thought too much about it. But now, he was maturing (…a tad) and he knew he had to think of others as well as himself.

Iruka had already done so much for him. The least the blonde could do in return was to try and get his act together…even if it was just for his last year.

So, in the end, he had made a promise to himself.

He would get himself a scholarship.

…Ok so maybe that was shooting a bit high.

But he definitely wanted to get _something_, anything to help Iruka out. No matter how big or small the consolation prize was going to be, it would be worth it.

Which was why now, he could've kicked himself. Practically failing (well…_actually_ failing one) two big assessments was not going to help him achieve his goal. No, he needed to believe in himself.

Victoriously, he punched the air…

And nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

So perhaps he had been a _bit_ too into his thoughts.

Turning around to face whoever it was that had disturbed him, he felt himself gaping.

_DamnfuckinglittlepieceofshitUchiha!!!_

"You!"

Sasuke cocked his head to the side.

"Me?"

"You!!"

"Me…"

YOU!!!!"

"Me." Sasuke had no idea where this little game was going.

"AH!" Angrily, Naruto shoved his hand into his bag and pulled out his crumpled math test, thrusting it under the Uchiha's nose.

"Ouch, dobe…"

_Oooh…why you…_

"That is one sucky ass grade."

Naruto really lost it then.

"Yeah?! Well you! You! Me! Grope! Failing now! Fuck! Stupid…Uchiha! Keep your hands off! Damn pervert! FUCK! Now…now FAILING NOW!" Naruto sputtered. He was so angry his thoughts were coming out in jumbled, jagged phrases. He couldn't even form a sentence.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, clearly amused.

"Sorry…the only thing I got out of that was 'grope' and 'fuck.' Oh, and fail?"

Naruto took a deep breath, trying to control himself. All of a sudden, the energy he had once had seemed evaporate. He slumped, depleted. His gaze lingered on the Uchiha who looked completely cool and collected with that smug air of cockiness and I'm-so-much-better-than-you all around him.

And here he was. A mess.

"What I _meant_ to say was that I just nearly failed my history test, and then right after that, I find out I failed my math quiz. And it's all thanks to you!" There. He got it out.

Sasuke's eyebrow seemed to arch higher.

"And how would this be _my_ fault?"

"Well if you had just kept your damn hands to yourself that day, you wouldn't have screwed up my concentration and…and…" Damn when Naruto actually said it _out loud_, it sounded much lamer than it had in his head.

Sasuke smirked. "Glad to know you were thinking about me."

_Pompous bastard_. "That's not the point!" Naruto cried out, heatedly.

A hand slammed on either side of his head so that now, the blonde was cornered, sandwiched between his locker and Sasuke. The raven leaned close him, until his lips lingered merely a few centimeters away from the other's ear.

"Am _I_ your excuse for everything now? I heard that's what you used after you smashed your car."

Naruto felt himself grow hot upon the feeling of Sasuke's breath on his ear. "H-how'd you know about that?"

"A little birdie told me. Well, actually. It was a _lazy_ one."

_I'm going to _kill_ Shikamaru…_Naruto glowered. He felt like a complete idiot. Though, with the more time he was spending with Sasuke, he was beginning to grow quite accustomed to that feeling.

"Why're you here, Sasuke? What do you want?" The blonde asked tiredly, trying to spare at least a _little_ bit of his dignity.

The Uchiha dropped his hands and backed away. Naruto bit his lip, missing the warmth.

Dark, obsidian eyes pierced his, almost as though they were scanning through his mind.

Finally, Sasuke broke off eye contact and sighed heavily.

"You know, dobe. Any other person would've figured out that staring at them for that long meant they should know the answer to their own question."

"_Why_ are you here, Sasuke?" The blonde ground out, a bit more forcefully this time. He really wasn't in the mood to play games.

The raven looked at him.

"It's Tuesday."

_Oh. Right._

Ever since their little incident at the park, the Uchiha had made time to see the blonde, every Tuesday. Sometimes it was for five minutes, other times only two. They would usually have a short chat, but it would always end with Sasuke uttering three words.

I. Like. You.

At first, Naruto hadn't known what to do or say. In fact, he had found it quite annoying because the raven _always_ managed to find a way to get those words across to him, one way or another (Naruto had tried hiding from him just to see his reaction. Alas, Sasuke had found him in the janitor's closet, the teacher's lounge…even in the girl's bathroom).

And then…he had stopped finding it annoying. Eventually, he had gotten used to it. Now, he had even begun to think it was…cute. Of course, Naruto never said anything of the sort back to Sasuke, and the raven never made any comment about it. But hearing the little endearment from the normally stoic Uchiha was…heartwarming in way.

And…being that he was so stressed out from his tests, Naruto had simply forgotten today was Tuesday.

The corners of his lips began to tilt up slowly.

"I—"

"Sasuke!"

Both males turned to see none other than the pink-haired girl running toward them. Sakura was waving frantically. Her clothing, like always, was about four sizes too small and her face as smothered in make-up.

So, it was a complete shock to Naruto when Sasuke lifted his hand in response to the overly perky girl.

_What. The. Hell._

Naruto didn't think he could even remember the last time Sasuke had waved to _anyone_. Uchiha Sasuke didn't _do_ waving. He was far too high above it.

The blonde was on the verge of having a stutter attack again when he was shoved aside, none-too-gently by the moving pink ball.

"Come on Sasuke! We're going to be late for class!"

With that, she latched onto his arm and began tugging him toward the direction of the other hallway.

Naruto was gaping again.

_What?! First he waves to her…and then…and then he lets her grab onto him! What is going ON?!_

"Later, dobe." Sasuke called out over his shoulder as he was led away by Sakura.

It took about a full twenty seconds for Naruto's brain to resgister that he was now, standing alone in the middle of the hallway.

The urge to slam his head into the locker was coming back again…

Except this time, he was thinking of just stuffing himself _into_ his locker and never coming back out.

Because, as he just watched Sasuke getting pulled away by Sakura, Naruto couldn't help but feel _something_ boiling in the pit of his stomach.

What that feeling was, he didn't exactly know.

But what he _did_ know was this:

He had seen Sakura latch onto his arm.

And he didn't like that _at all_.

---

In that back of his mind, Sasuke was doing a victory dance.

After the night they had returned from the park, he still had no clue what to "define" their relationship was. They were obviously close, but Naruto still simply refused to them being together.

So, he had started telling the blonde how he felt.

Every Tuesday.

Sasuke could tell his charm was slowly but surely working its magic. When Naruto had tried hiding, he hadn't let himself get beat. He practically stalked the blonde, making _sure_ he got every Tuesday (the time in the girl's bathroom had been somewhat of a stretch though).

But Sasuke had never been a very patient person. And at the rate that had been going, he would've most likely _graduated_ before he got a response from Naruto. So, he had tried Plan B.

Jealousy.

It was a low blow, this he knew. And it was tough for someone like him to even consider it…but it seemed to be the only way his genius of a mind had thought of.

So much to his displeasure…

He had stopped ignoring Sakura's advances.

The grip on his arm tightened even further and he swore it was cutting off his circulation, but he said nothing. He couldn't blow his cover.

Sakura leaned in closer, and them sickly smell of sugary sweet perfume overwhelmed Sasuke's sense of smell, making him want to vomit.

God, he couldn't believe he was putting up with this.

_But, _he told himself, _this is all for the greater good of getting Naruto to me_.

Sasuke looked down at the girl clinging to his arm. With her face covered in artificial crap and her clothing way too small, she looked like a cross between a clown and a hooker.

And as they walked into English together, the Uchiha only had one thought on his mind:

_That damn dobe better figure out and admit his damn feelings soon!_

---

"Do you SEE them?!"

It was lunch time, and all seemed to be normal. Well, with the exception of a raven-haired boy looking incredibly bored with a pink-haired girl by his side, blabbing on about nothing important. Oh, and a blonde boy watching from afar with flames practically shooting out of his eyes.

"Well?! Do you?!" Kiba groaned, while Shikamaru sighed.

"Yes Naruto. We see them."

"No, I don't think you see them! I mean, _look_ at th—"

"Naruto," Shikamaru interrupted, "Sasuke and Sakura are the only things you've allowed us to look at for the past three weeks."

The blonde blinked. Ok, so _maybe_ he had been a little…obsessed. It was just weird that all of a sudden, Sasuke had started spending all his time with…with Sakura!

Fucking Sakura of all people!

In fact, the raven had been basically ignoring him. The only real time they had talked was on Tuesdays…and the most that had been was usually only for ten minutes! When Naruto had tried asking Sasuke what the hell he was thinking, the Uchiha wouldn't respond, making up some stupid excuse and then walking off without a word.

So for the past three weeks, the blonde had been irritable.

_Stupid Sasuke. Stupid Sakura. Stupid everything!!!_

"Naruto?"

"What," the blonde snapped out.

"Me and Shikamaru have come to a conclusion."

"And what might that be?" Naruto glared at them.

"You're…jealous."

The blonde turned to stare Kiba…then to Shikamaru…then back to Kiba…

"What?!" He let out a laugh. "You guys…that's a good one."

"We're serious, Naruto. Ever since Sasuke started hanging out with Sakura, you've been getting all grouchy and shit. And we think its cause you're jealous of her. You want Sasuke's attention.

"I—I—"

Jealous.

He was jealous.

…

Damn straight he was jealous!

Slamming his hands on the table in a way that startled both Kiba and Shikamaru, the blonde stood up.

"I'll see you guys later. I have to go end this. _Now._"

---

Sasuke felt like he was slowly dying.

He just _had_ to like probably one of the most oblivious people in the world.

How long was it going to take Naruto to realize that he was jealous?

He had given the blonde two weeks at most. But it was now near the end of the third and Sasuke had clearly underestimated Naruto's ability to be downright stupid.

The raven snapped out of his thoughts when he found a pair of chopsticks underneath his nose, an obvious attempt by Sakura to feed him.

Sasuke looked at her with disgust.

He had thought it would've been easier than this.

He had thought it was worth it.

He thought he could've handled it.

But no.

Having to deal with THIS for the past three weeks was totally NOT worth it.

Fuck this.

With a growl, he got up.

He was going to hunt the blonde down and _beat_ some sense into him.

---

"TEME!"

Naruto had followed Sasuke out of the cafeteria and felt about ready to kick the raven's ass for what he had been putting him through.

The Uchiha regarded him with a cold look.

"What do you want, dobe?"

"We need to talk."

Sasuke nodded, but before either of them could say another word…

"Sasuke!"

A vein threatened to pop in Naruto's forehead.

"_Sasuke!_

He was going to…

"_Sasuke, wait for me!"_

Fucking _kill_ that girl…

"_Sasuke, where're you going?!"_

If she didn't cease her talking…

"_Sasuke, one second!"_

In the next five seconds…

"_Sasuke, I love you!"_

"ARGH SHUT THE HELL UP AND STAY AWAY FROM HIM YOU STUPID BITCH!" Naruto's eyes flashed dangerously and Sakura let out a squeak before turning around and running as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

Sasuke was a bit shocked himself.

He had never seen Naruto act like that before.

Then…it clicked.

Naruto _was_ jealous.

He felt his arm being yanked harshly and he followed the fuming blonde into a small corner of the school. His arm, from all that it had taken from Sakura, and now from Naruto, was aching in pain, but he was too happy to give a shit.

_Naruto was jealous!_

Finally, they stopped and Naruto had a killing aura all around him.

Sasuke looked at the blonde once.

Then twice.

And then…

He laughed.

God, he couldn't stop laughing. Not that the situation was _that_ funny, but something just seemed to break in the raven's head and now, he couldn't control his laughter at all.

Naruto's look of anger changed to that of confusion, then back to anger, then back to confusion, and lastly, back to anger, though he didn't look at all as dangerous as before.

When Sasuke managed to get his laughter into check, he reached a hand up and poked the blonde in the forehead.

"You're cute when you get all flustered."

Naruto swatted his hand away impatiently. "Look Sasuke, let's get one thing straight. Sakura's not coming within ten feet of you _ever_ again."

"Hmm, and why not, dobe?" Sasuke countered.

The Uchiha was slightly taken aback before he found himself being pulled into Naruto's arms. A fierce growl echoed in his ear.

"Because you're _mine_."

Sasuke was speechless.

The moment he had been waiting for had finally come.

Naruto had just fucking admitted Sasuke belonged to him.

"So…does this mean you're willing to be my boyfriend?"

Sasuke waited for the response, breath caught in his throat…

He felt a nod against his neck.

"Yeah. I'll be your boyfriend…asshole."

Sasuke felt a grin split his face wide.

He pulled the blonde against him closer. God, he couldn't even remember the last time he had felt this good.

He wanted to do nothing more than bask in his glory.

Then, a voice cut him off from his triumphant thoughts.

"Sasuke—I smell perfu—"

"Just shut up, Naruto." The blonde was not about to ruin the moment. Again.

But speaking of which, he couldn't wait to go home and wash Sakura's scent off his body that it seemed to cling to.

After all the hell that he had put up with, he was right.

It _had_ been worth it.

Because now…Naruto Uzumaki was his boyfriend.

Mission accomplished.

---

**Yay they're finally together! Took them awhile but eh…**

**Sorry if you guys think this chapter's crappy. I guess it really has been a long time since I've practice my writing skills.**

**Oh, and for anyone that watches House, that's where I stole the "I like you" thing from. I don't remember if it was actually Tuesday, but I thought that whole concept was cute.**

**So what'll happen now that the two of them are together? Well there's Kiba and Shikamaru and their French skit that they have to work on…oh and there's still Itachi! (hope you guys didn't forget about him!)**

**Review, review, review!**

**I don't know if I'll be able to update again before the end of the year, but if you guys are nice and maybe drop a REVIEW who knows what'll happen…**


	10. First Date

**If it makes up for anything, this chapter was supposed to be out a LOT earlier than now. And then…life got in the way. So I decided that since the update length was so long, I'd make this chapter more on the humorous side (until the end anyways) and allow it to show more of Sasuke and Naruto's relationship.**

**Enjoy the chapter. **

**EDIT: Thanks to roar303 who pointed out an error...in chapter 8 I said that Naruto had his car back and in this, I said it was still in the shop. Boy...I am really dumb sometimes. I can't even keep track of what's happening in my own story. Anyways, I edited that part out and it's all fixed now, sorry for any confusion!**

**Chapter 10: First Date**

**--**

_'Throw it away_

_Forget yesterday'_

…_Huh._

'_We'll make the great escape_

_We won't hear a word they say_

_They don't know us anyway'_

…_The fuck?_

'_Watch it burn_

_Let it die'_

…_Too…loud…too…early…_

'_Cause we are finally free tonight'_

Naruto groaned, groggily, trying to form coherent thoughts in his head. He was subconsciously awake, though his eyes refused to open in an attempt to draw in an extra ten minutes of sleep.

'_Throw it away_

_Forget yesterday'_

No such luck.

Throwing the covers over his head, he buried his face into his pillow. His brain wasn't exactly functioning yet, but he tried as best he could to figure out what was making that irritating sound and how he could fix the problem.

Ah! Simple. Obviously, he had forgotten to shut off his alarm clock last night. Usually, it was programmed to start playing the radio (instead of the incessant buzzing sound that increased with every second it wasn't shut off), which signaled it was time for him to get up for school.

A tan arm shot out from underneath the covers and pushed the 'off' button on the clock on his bedside drawer.

'_We'll make the great escape'_

The hand began a series of smacks and punches on the electronic device.

'_We won't hear a word they say'_

Finally, he ended up just yanking the black cord out of its socket. There was a 'beep' followed by silence.

Ah, peace at last.

--

'_Throw it away_

_Forget yesterday'_

Hadn't he already taken care of this?

'_We'll make the great escape_

_We won't hear a word they say'_

"ARGHHHHH!"

Wrenching the covers from his head, Naruto blinked around, trying to will his sense of hearing and sense of sight to locate whatever the hell was making that damn noise!

'_They don't know us anyway_

_Watch it burn, let it die'_

Blue eyes snapped to his desk.

Oh. Of course.

His phone.

_Nice going, Naruto_.

Half of him had a strong urge to simply ignore the call. But, he somehow had a pretty sure feeling that whoever it was wouldn't leave him alone. With a sinking feeling, he got out of bed, with a murderous aura around him.

_Someone's gonna die for this…_

Flipping his phone open with such great force, it was a surprise the phone didn't snap back in half.

"What the hell?!" He snapped out.

"Tsk. Dobe. Is this how you greet everyone on the phone?"

"Well, teme, not everyone has the decency to wake me up at this ungodly hour!"

"Ungodly? You're kidding right? I wonder what you would've sounded like had you picked up my earlier call.

_Huh? Sasuke called earlier?_

"What exactly do you want, Sasuke?" The blonde sighed out. The faster he could get off the phone, the faster he could cuddle back into the warmth of his blankets.

"I'm calling to let you know that we're going out tonight."

"Out? Where?" Naruto asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You'll find out later."

"Teme, I have a right being your boyfriend to know where."

"And _I_, dobe, have a right as your boyfriend to surprise you."

"That's not fair, you know."

"Life's not fair. Deal with it. I'll pick you up after work."

"Fine, fine," Naruto let out, exasperated, "pick me up after wo—"

_Oh. Shit_.

"Dobe, are you alright?"

"…Sasuke…what time is it?"

"Ten to eleven."

_Ten to eleven. Ten to eleven…_

"I'm actually rather surprised—"

_No. It can't be ten to eleven. I set my alarm to 10:45 on the weekends. I NEVER forget to set it..._

"You're not up earlier—"

Frantic eyes dashed toward his alarm clock. There was no time on it.

_Did we have a fucking power outage?! I swear, I'm gonna kill Iruka if he forgot to pay the electric bill—_Then, his eyes fell to the cord on the floor.

"You_ do_ have work at noon, don't you—"

Vague memories of earlier filled his head.

The cord.

He had pulled the cord.

He had pulled the cord to his alarm clock that he thought…

"Sasuke…you said you called me earlier, right?"

"Yeah, about an hour ago."

Naruto was sure he was about to start shooting flames from his eyes.

"Sasuke?"

"Mmm?"

"Fuck you."

Naruto smashed his phone against the wall, clearly signifying the end of the conversation.

--

Sasuke chuckled lightly after hanging up. Naruto was just so clueless sometimes…lovably clueless of course. He set his phone down and leaned back against his chair, drumming his fingers lightly on the armrest. He smiled softly. He had something special planned for tonight and everything had to be perfect.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the door to his room open or see the object being tossed to him until it hit him squarely in the face.

"What the hell, aniki?"

The elder of the two smirked. "Don't get all pissy at me, otouto. If you weren't too busy daydreaming about your boyfriend and staring off into space with that stupid smile on your face, you could've been more aware of your surroundings."

It was amazing to Sasuke that just a few seconds with Itachi in his presence could send him on the verge of a migraine.

"Can I help you?" Sasuke bit out.

Itachi motioned to what he had thrown at him. When Sasuke looked down, he saw a black, silk tie on his lap. He raised an eyebrow.

"What's this for?"

It was now Itachi's turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "Father's business dinner. We have the pleasure of going to the Urasaki's house of hell so he can make some deal. It's all he's been talking about for weeks—please don't tell me you forgot."

There was dead silence.

"…And here I thought you were actually intelligent."

Sasuke would've conjured some witty comeback to Itachi's remark, but the only thing running through his head at the moment was SHIT. How could he _possibly_ have forgotten? This dinner meant a lot to his father and somehow it had been pushed into the deepest, darkest corners of his mind to be forgotten among other non-important things.

"Damn it, aniki. I have plans tonight." Sasuke tried his hardest to maintain his composure, but even he couldn't help but let his concern flicker across his eyes for a moment.

"And what do you propose I do about that?" Itachi scoffed.

"Make something up. I don't know…you're good at convincing people. Just—just tell them I'm not feeling well."

"You really think father will fall for that? He knows how much you hate his dinners. He'd make you go even if you had a 103 fever and felt like you were going to pass out."

"Well, what am I supposed to tell him?!" Sasuke let out, exasperated.

"I don't know, nor do I care," was Itachi's short response before he left.

_Fuck!_

Sasuke pounded his fist against his desk roughly, the sound resonating throughout the whole room. He couldn't just bail on Naruto after telling him they were going to go out tonight. But he couldn't think of a way to get out of dinner…

Minutes and minutes passed by and still, Sasuke could think of no solution to his situation. His hand fiddled with his phone. With a sigh, he began to dial Naruto's number to tell him the bad news.

"I'll tell him you need to finish your research project."

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, his eyes flickered to the door. Itachi stood there, expressionless as ever. Immediately, he understood the meaning of his brother's words.

"You think that'll work?"

"Otouto, sometimes, I wonder if father cares more about your grades than your life itself." Itachi said in a voice that Sasuke could tell he was only…half-joking.

"Why are you doing this?" Sasuke asked lightly. Hell, he had wanted his brother to come through for him, but he never really believed that he would. And in fact he had.

Itachi seemed to be asking himself the same thing in his mind. He didn't know how exactly to respond. "Don't ask questions, otouto. Just go with it."

Sasuke was confused at his brother's behavior, but didn't make any further comments. He acted indifferent and like he didn't care…but, somewhere, inside that microscopic thing he called his heart, Sasuke knew he did. Or maybe the elder was bipolar. That could explain it too.

"Well…thanks then. I owe you." And he meant that.

Itachi shut the door closed, but not before mumbling something that sounded distinctly to Sasuke like 'hell yeah you do.' Sasuke shifted his gaze to his table where pieces of paper were scattered all around and where his laptop sat.

He really did need to finish that paper.

But of course, everything could wait until after tonight.

--

Naruto made his way out of the café to see Sasuke's beamer pulled out front. He opened the side door to the front seat and got in. Instantly, the car was flooded with a scent of warm coffee and chocolate mixed together, and while Sasuke wasn't one to like sweets, he didn't mind the smell Naruto carried with him.

"Hey, how was work?" Sasuke asked smoothly, his free hand that wasn't on the steering wheel sneaking its way to lace with the blonde's.

"Good," Naruto blushed lightly as he felt fingers around his. "If I'm lucky, I should be able to _finally_ get my car next week."

"Hn, and now I was actually beginning to like driving you places," said Sasuke, while Naruto laughed lightly. There was a moment of comfortable silence before Naruto wanted to change the radio station. He moved his hand to the dial before it was smacked away.

"Hey! What was that for," he whined.

"No one touches my music, dobe, I thought I made that clear the last time you were in here," was the response.

"Psh, you call this music? This is crap, teme."

"Well excuse me if I happen to like better music than whatever the hell you listen to."

"At least my music doesn't make me wanna fall asleep."

"And at least mine doesn't make my ears bleed."

Naruto let out a pout, and a slight 'hmph' before turning to face the window. Eventually, he asked, "So where're we going anyways?"

"You'll see."

"Aw, come on teme, don't you think you've kept this a secret for long enough? It's killing me to find out." Naruto made his voice sound as desperate and pleading as he could.

When it was clear Sasuke wasn't going to crack, Naruto looked slightly miffed before resuming his position looking out the window. Suddenly, a bright idea came to mind. He turned around slowly with a grin on his face. Leaning close to Sasuke, he whispered lightly into his ear.

"_Please_ Sasuke…I _hate_ surprises." Naruto allowed his hand to rest on Sasuke's kneecap, before dragging it down, slowly, the length of the paler teen's leg. Instantly, Sasuke's grip on the steering wheel tightened and his breath hitched.

_Ha! Take THAT bastard! Now you can see how it feels!_

"Dobe…get your hand off me."

"Mmm, I don't think I want to, teme. It feels rather comfortable there."

"I'm about ready to kick you out of my car."

"But you wouldn't do that, now would you?" The warm, tempting breath against his ear was back.

"Don't test me." He shuddered when Naruto blew lightly.

Over in Sasuke's mind, he was scolding himself. He was an Uchiha, damn it! He should have more self-control than this. Though he had to admit, Naruto's hand was feeling awfully nice on thigh…

Sasuke let his senses relax a little too much though, because next thing he knew, Naruto was screaming bloody murder and he didn't know what reflex he had within him that allowed him to swerve his car over and _just_ barely avoid that truck.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were breathing slightly harder than before.

He reaaaally needed to stop almost smashing his car into other vehicles whenever the blonde was in his presence (or running rampant in his thoughts).

"Naruto…kindly remove your hand before we both die."

The hand moved rather quickly after that.

--

"Sasuke, why are we at the park?" Naruto asked, confused. Sasuke had just parked the car and both had just gotten out.

"Follow me," Sasuke tugged the blonde's hand, urging him to follow. The two walked for a little bit until they reached a small, grassy clearing that appeared to be glowing. Naruto squinted a little, but as they walked closer, he began to make out what was on the grass.

Set up, there was a picnic blanket laid out. On it was a simple meal for two (including ramen of course) and a bottle of champagne with two glasses. Another, thicker blanket was waiting nearby and the glow that Naruto had seen from afar had been candles that had been lit up around the area.

Naruto's jaw dropped at all of it. Never before had anyone put so much effort into pleasing him. He felt a tug at his heartstrings and warmth spread throughout his body. He looked over to Sasuke, where the other was shifting a bit from side to side, looking a little uncomfortable. His fingers tightened unconsciously around Sasuke's.

Sasuke smiled to himself, knowing by the way Naruto responded that he liked what he had done. It hadn't taken too long to get the meal prepared and get everything set up, but like he said, everything had to be perfect.

"So, this is what you had planned all along?" Naruto asked, his voice more calm and quiet than earlier.

"Well, I figure I could have taken you out to some boring, expensive restaurant you would've had no interest in going to…or I could make a meal, bring it here, watch you eat, wrap you up in that blanket, and afterwards, watch the stars in the sky," Sasuke answered, in a voice just as soft and sincere.

Again, Naruto felt that tug. "I never thought you'd be the romantic type, Uchiha."

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. "Neither did I."

The two of them sat down and began to eat. Both snuck glances at the other when they thought they weren't looking. No words were exchanged. None were needed.

When they were finished and about half the bottle of champagne was drained, Sasuke wrapped the blanket around himself and Naruto, the blonde's head resting lightly on his shoulder. The first of the night's stars were beginning to show themselves in the dark sky.

Neither moved for a few minutes. Idly, Sasuke began to trail his hand through Naruto's locks. Never in his life had he felt like this before. It truly was weird to him that one person could make him feel like this. Like he was in a place where troubles didn't exist, where he didn't have to think of school, his brother, or his parents. No, the only thing that was running through his head right now was Naruto Uzumaki.

"God, Naruto," Sasuke whispered. "How'd I get so lucky to have you?"

At those words, Naruto felt a sting in his eyes. He bit his lip hard to force them to go away. He was such a girl, he couldn't believe he was this close to crying. He barely cried, ever. But with Sasuke, it was so much easier to provoke emotion from him. He couldn't believe that right now, _the_ Uchiha Sasuke was saying all those things to him. The most attractive and one of the most sought-after guys in the whole school, hell maybe even the whole city, was happy to have him.

He had never felt so important and needed in his whole life.

Burrowing his face into the crook of Sasuke's neck, he let out a shaky sigh. "I'm the one who should be saying that bastard."

The silence was thick.

The stars were bright as they littered the vast sky.

And it was only a matter of moments before the two fell asleep.

--

It was never a good sign when Sasuke awoke to something burning.

Naruto stirred beside him before he blinked his eyes open. "S'uke, what's…tha smell?"

Indeed, the burning scent was increasing each moment and Sasuke still couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was. His eyes widened and he sprang up quickly, or as quickly as he could, being tangled in a blanket. It took a minute for Sasuke to dislodge himself completely, stepping on Naruto in the process and earning a yelp from the blonde.

"Shit! The candles!"

--

Sasuke drove Naruto back to his house safely and walked him to his doorstep. He felt like such an idiot for forgetting to put out those candles. Not that he planned on sleeping for that long, nor had he expected the wind to be so strong that it knocked them over but still…he should've been a bit more cautious. Now, he smelled like burnt grass.

"So…"

"Well…"

Both paused after speaking at the same time. Naruto grinned sheepishly, while Sasuke let out a small smile.

"Go ahead, teme."

"No, you first."

"Ok, well…I just wanted you to know I had a really, really great time tonight. Minus nearly starting a forest fire." Blue eyes sparkled in amusement. "Thank you for doing all of this, Sasuke. Didn't know you had it in you to be such a good boyfriend. It…it really meant a lot."

Sasuke stared at the boy in front of him. Naruto still had the blanket around him. His bright, blonde hair was sticking up in random places from sleeping, which only added to his adorableness. His clear, cerulean eyes twinkled like the stars had, and held such a light in them, that Sasuke felt as though he was being sucked in. Standing here, on Naruto's front porch, the blonde truly looked like an angel.

"I'm glad you had a good time. That means a lot to me too."

Naruto's grin never faded. "Well…good night then. See you in school tomorrow." Quickly, he tilted his head up and pressed a kiss on the side of Sasuke's cheek before moving to open his front door. His hand was suddenly grabbed and he was spun around to find a pair of lips pressed firmly against his own.

Sasuke wasn't about to allow Naruto to leave with just a kiss on the cheek. His tongue traced the blonde's bottom lip, silently asking for permission. With a small moan, Naruto parted his mouth, allowing his tongue to slide in and explore. Sasuke placed one of his hands on the back of Naruto's head, pulling him in closer, while the other went to cup the blonde's cheek.

After a while, both parted for air. Naruto's cheeks now had a light dusting of pink on them and Sasuke looked slightly breathless.

"Good night, Naruto," said Sasuke, leaning down to peck him softly on the lips once more before retreating to his car.

Naruto gathered whatever he had left in him to let himself in. Once inside, he let his head rest back against the door. God, that kiss…it had been amazing. He smiled as he pulled the blanket around himself tighter. Oh! The blanket…he supposed Sasuke wouldn't mind if he held onto it for a bit longer. He'd give it back to him…eventually.

He traced his lips lightly with his fingers.

He could still feel Sasuke's warmth.

Naruto made his way up to his room in the best mood he'd been in a while.

It was about time he let himself be happy.

--

Sasuke paused by Itachi's room as he made his way to bed. His older brother was typing away at his own laptop, hair hanging loosely around his shoulders.

"How was dinner?"

"Sucked," Itachi responded, without even a glance upward. "You're lucky father and mother chose to retire to bed without checking on you."

"Yeah…I kind of lost track of time." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair again. He had been doing that a lot recently.

"What, had too much of a good time with your boyfriend?"

"You could say that…"

"I don't even want to know," Itachi cut in, before Sasuke could finish. "But I would recommend you to shower. You do smell like someone who stuck his head and clothes in a furnace.

The younger glared. "Yeah. That's where I was headed. Good night then."

"Sasuke."

Sasuke paused before leaving. His brother rarely called him by his actual name. It was usually just 'otouto' or even better, 'foolish otouto.'

"Father wasn't too happy."

The teen swallowed thickly. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing." Click. Click. Click. Itachi's hands typed away on his document. "Though I believe he suspects something."

"Well…what do I do?" Sasuke bit his lip. He seemed to be making a habit of that too.

"You could start by telling him you have a boyfriend."

There was an uneasy pause.

"I…I can't do that. You know I can't even consider that. It's—it's…too soon." Sasuke seemed to be having trouble forming sentences.

Click. Click. Click.

"And how long do you plan on keeping this relationship a secret?"

"I…I don't know. I mean, I'll tell him. It's just…too soon."

Click. Click. Click.

"I see. Goodnight otouto."

The door to his room closed and Itachi paused in his typing and stared at the spot where Sasuke had stood just a moment before.

He kept his gaze, staring there, at the door, for a long, long time.

**--**

**Yeah, I told you guys Itachi will be a bit more important later on in the story. Sasuke's relationship with Naruto might have gotten a lot better but the one with his father…well that's another story.**

**Please review! More reviews faster updates! (seriously, this time guys).**


	11. The Time of Cheer

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**I'm baaaack! All I have to say is thank god school's over! And about this chapter, I know that it's nowhere near Christmas season, but I had to make it so since it goes with the chronology of the school year.**

**Chapter 11: The Time of Cheer**

--

"C'mon guys, this isn't funny!"

Naruto was currently on 3-way with Kiba and Shikamaru, and while the blonde was pouting, Kiba's loud laugh filled all their ears. He could hear Shikamaru let out a few heavy coughs, which were supposed to suppress his own chuckles of amusement.

It didn't fool Naruto, and frankly, he was about to rip both their heads off.

"Kiba, pipe down and try to be serious for once! Shouldn't you guys be trying to support me?" he asked, exasperated, while flopping down on his bed.

"Hey, hey! You've got my complete and full support of you and that Uchiha brat screwing each other's brains out. But, it's hard to be seriously when you…you sound like a damn girl!"

Cue more never-ending laughter.

"He does have a point for once, Naruto…" came Shikamaru's thoughtful remark.

"See! Even he noticed it! I still can't believe you called us up to ask our opinions on what you should get Sasuke for Christmas. I mean, just spend an extra 10 bucks and call it done. I'm tellin' you, this is the kind of stuff only chicks worry about."

Naruto sighed before letting out a growl of frustration. "Yeah, well maybe this is why your sorry ass can't land even a date with Hinata. Oh, and for your information, Sasuke and I haven't been screwing each other's brains out!"

"Yo, you didn't have to—eh, wait, what? Am I hearing you right? You and Uchiha have been going out for a some time now, and he hasn't tapped your ass yet?"

"No!" Naruto screeched with indignation and slight embarrassment. "God, not everyone's always horny like you!"

"I ain't always horny—"

"—That can be debated," Shikamaru butted in.

"Alright, alright, fine. I'm always horny. But how long are you and him planning on waiting?"

"I don't know," Naruto bit out, "I'm not marking a specific date on my calendar for when I'm losing my virginity. I just…" he trailed off and his voice softened, "I kinda want it to be…something special, you know?"

There was silence on the phone for so long that Naruto could've sworn both had hung up on him. When Kiba finally let out a cough, he had expected another comment about him being a girl, but what came next surprised him.

"Shikamaru, you're coming over now."

"Yeah…I was thinking the same thing."

"What? Hey! What about me?"

"You're not invited!" Both voices rang out in unison.

"Assholes! Some friends you guys are…"

"Trust us, Naruto," came Shikamaru's soothing tone, "this isn't something you want to be involved in."

"I don't like the sound of that," he replied, his voice laced with suspicion.

"Yeah, and besides, you've still got to get Sasuke a present, right?"

"Shit! You're right! Alright, later guys!"

Both Kiba and Shikamaru heard a click and breathed a sign of relief as the line went dead.

Thank god for the blonde and his A.D.D.

--

Sasuke twirled his phone in his hand impatiently. He had been waiting for a phone call since ten o'clock, and it was already near one in the afternoon. He swore to himself that this would be the last time he ever made an appointment with this company again.

On a more positive note, it was Christmas Eve. Well, a few hours away from being a true "eve" but still, it was the day before Christmas. Naruto had kindly invited Sasuke over for dinner and he had accepted. He was interested in what Naruto's adopted father was like and what kind of lifestyle they both lived.

Sasuke also thought that this would be a good time to give Naruto his Christmas present, instead of having to wait until tomorrow, but, by the looks of things, it didn't appear that his gift would be finished anytime soon.

He rubbed his temples. What an annoyance.

At about half past one, his phone finally buzzed to life. Sasuke sprang up from his bed, where he had been disinterestedly reading a magazine previously, and leapt for it.

"Hello, Sasuke Uchiha here."

"Ah, Mr. Uchiha, I'm very sorry for the delay. But the piece you requested has finally been finished. It's ready to be picked-up whenever you're free."

_About damn time._

"I'll be there soon," he responded curtly, before snapping his phone shut.

Snatching his keys from off his desk, he made his way out the door.

--

"Alright, I'm sure you know why you're here."

Shikamaru nodded, as he made himself comfortable on Kiba's couch. It had been deemed an "Emergency Naruto Meeting," this little get-together between Kiba and himself, and they were both about ready to get started.

"So…wow." Kiba didn't know what to say, merely scratching the back of his neck.

"Hm," Shikamaru's voice was quiet, "it seems as though Naruto is actually falling for him."

Kiba winced. "You know it's so weird to think about. When they got together and stuff, I was fine about it, cause, god I'm about to sound like such an ass, but I didn't _actually_ think they'd last. I mean…they're just so different."

Shikamaru nodded. "I agree. Logically, to me, it didn't make sense either. But now…"

"But now, it sounds like Naruto's not joking around," Kiba finished softly.

He shifted a little in his seat. "I can't believe this is the same dorky little Naruto that read comic books all the time when we were kids. The one that's so clumsy all the time, always tripping over his own feet or some other object. The one who was picked on like no other growing up. How he managed to snag Sasuke Uchiha, the kid that's had fangirls since preschool, and who has like a billion dollars in his pocket…I'll never know."

Both simply sat there for a few minutes, allowing the words to sink in. At last, Kiba clapped his hands once loudly, breaking the trance.

"Well, you know what this means right?" he asked brightly.

Shikamaru's lips tilted upwards. "Yeah, I think I know what's on your mind."

Kiba's own grin took a slightly lecherous turn. "It's time to go find ourselves an Uchiha."

--

Naruto hung his head low as he made his way out of yet another store. The more he wandered, the more he was beginning to wonder if all his efforts were truly pointless.

This was the first time he had ever had to purchase something of such extreme value. Sure, there had been father's day cards and friend's birthdays…but never a boyfriend. He didn't even have an idea where to begin.

And as if he weren't feeling pressed enough, this was Sasuke he was talking about. Sasuke. _Sasuke Uchiha_. The Uchihas were prestigious and wealthy. This was the kid that had everything he could have ever wanted since he was born.

_How the hell am I supposed to buy something for someone who has everything?_

It didn't help the fact that he was low on cash either. Granted, he had enough money for something that was decent, and if it were anyone else, it would've suited him just fine. But, as he passed by countless display stands, nothing jumped out at him. Besides, the money he had couldn't purchase him anything extraordinary. And extraordinary was what Sasuke deserved.

Glancing down at his watch, Naruto was surprised at how late it already was. Sasuke would be over soon. With a sigh of defeat, he began to head back home.

_How am I supposed to tell him I didn't get him anything for Christmas?_

_--_

"Ah! Damn it!"

Kiba and Shikamaru collapsed onto a bench located under a shady tree, both thoroughly exhausted. They had searched nearly everywhere in the center of town for Sasuke, only to find the man nowhere to be found.

"You don't think we're gonna have to stop by his estate, do you?"

"Nah, no way," Kiba shuddered. "I doubt we'd get back from security alive. Besides, he's got to be somewhere around here! I mean, he's got to be getting a gift for Naruto, right?"

He tilted his head back and let out a heavy breath. "This is so ridiculous. It's not even like Konoha's that big! Where the he—"

"Kiba!"

Two pairs of eyes swung their attention to the door that had just jingled shut to see Sasuke Uchiha walk out, hands shoved in the pockets of his designer jeans. He had taken all but two steps when he felt his face collide with the dirt.

"Jesus! What the fuck?!" He glared angrily at the body that had just tackled him.

"Aaaah you have no idea how long we've been looking for you!" Kiba shouted.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Sasuke asked coldly.

Kiba leaned down, his face mere inches away from Sasuke's. The Uchiha was beginning to get _slightly_ creeped out.

"Listen," Kiba began, "I don't really like you all that much—"

"The feeling's mutual," Sasuke muttered.

"—You," he pointed to Sasuke, "and I," he pointed to himself," have absolutely nothing in common—"

"Your point?"

"—_Except_," Kiba continued as though he hadn't been interrupted, "one thing."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"Naruto."

The dramatics aside, Shikamaru took over. "Look, we'll make this short. Naruto's our best friend. He has been for as long as we can remember and he always will be. He obviously cares deeply for you. However…what we're trying to say is…"

"You hurt him, we kill you," Kiba stated simply.

Sasuke looked, from his position on the ground, from one to the other. He had just gotten Naruto's gift, which he had to admit looked perfect, and had been heading home to get ready for his evening with the blonde, when he had gotten tackled to the ground and was currently receiving death threats. They had got to be kidding him.

_What a bunch of psychos_.

He could do nothing but nod, showing his understanding.

"Good," Kiba pushed off of him and brushed some dirt off his pants, "then it's settled. Happy holidays Uchiha!"

The pair walked off (with Kiba whistling a merry tune) and Sasuke remained in his position until he could no longer see either of them in his line of vision.

What the hell had just happened?

He made a mental note to himself to tell Naruto to stop hanging around those two.

--

Naruto whizzed around the house once more, making sure he hadn't missed anything. Everything needed to be perfect for when Sasuke arrived. He had even straightened out his room for the first time in a good couple of months.

From the kitchen, Iruka chuckled at the nervous ball of energy jumping around. Naruto could be too cute sometimes.

The doorbell rang as a loud crash could be heard coming from the bathroom, and Iruka vaguely wondered if he should be worried. A loud curse affirmed his thoughts.

"Don't worry about me Iruka! Just distract him for a sec, will you?" came the yell.

Iruka chuckled once again before opening the front door. There, in front of him, stood a handsome young teen. He bowed upon feeling Iruka's presence.

"Good evening, sir," came the smooth voice.

"Now, now," said Iruka hastily, "no need to be so polite. You can just call me Iruka. Please come in!" He stepped out of the doorway to allow the boy in.

Sasuke looked around Naruto's home. It was nowhere near as large as his own, but it still had quite a…cozy feel to it.

"I'll be right back, Sasuke. I've just got to check on dinner. Naruto should be out soon," Iruka smiled warmly at him.

Sasuke returned the gesture. The man seemed very nice. Looking around again, he caught sight of the fireplace that was blazing. Above, he noticed there were pictures of Naruto when he was a child. In the first, he was wearing a t-shirt that seemed to be four sizes too large, and grinning with his front teeth missing. The second depicted him making peace signs at the camera. The third had him hugging a stuffed animal fox. Sasuke couldn't help but have his insides feel light when he saw them.

_Cute, dobe_.

"Sasuke!"

He barely had a chance to turn around before he was tackled for a second time (though this time much more pleasurable) by a giant ball of orange energy. Sasuke looked up into clear, blue eyes, before leaning down and capturing pink lips in a soft kiss.

"Hey, I missed you."

"Me too," Sasuke wasn't sure, but he could have almost sworn he had seen a tinge of sadness within those blue orbs.

Before he could ask though, Iruka signaled that dinner was ready and the two got ready to eat.

Sasuke looked down at the plates set on the table before him. There were steaming bowls of rice, along with fish, meat, and vegetables. It looked like a good meal.

He sat down and helped himself to a bit of everything. Taking his first bite, he then realized how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten much the whole day. Both Naruto and Iruka looked on, astonished, as Sasuke began to eat rapidly.

It was only when he felt the stares of the other two that he realized he was most likely acting very embarrassing. He slowed down to swallow his food before mumbling 'sorry about that.'

Iruka burst out laughing. "Don't be. I was merely surprised, that's all. Trust me, I've seen Naruto at his worst and he'd probably have eaten twice the amount you had by now."

"Heh, what can I say? I like eating," Naruto said while reaching for some fish.

Sasuke smiled. "This is all very delicious."

"Ah, well, it's alright," he spoke, very flattered, "I'm sure you've had better though, ne?"

"Not really," Sasuke shrugged. "I don't really have home-cooked meals all that often. My mother doesn't like cooking too much, and my father's rarely home anyways. So my brother and I just usually order something."

"Ah, I see…"

The rest of dinner was a nice, casual affair. Unlike most parents Sasuke knew, Iruka did not ask him about his father's company or what his goals in life were. No, instead, they talked about ordinary things and he treated Sasuke as though he wasn't some billionaire. Sasuke appreciated that.

Once it was over, Naruto led Sasuke up to his room and closed the door gently behind him. The Uchiha had first envisioned the blonde's room to be swimming with orange and perhaps to even have random posters of ramen sticking out here and there. He was surprised to find a seemingly normal-looking room. Hell, it even looked a bit like his own room, with the exception of the light green walls.

"I know," Naruto said as though reading Sasuke's mind, "I don't really like the color. But Iruka wouldn't let me go off and paint the walls orange. He said it would draw too much attraction."

Sasuke silently thanked the man.

"Iruka…he's very nice." Naruto grinned at him.

"Yeah, he's the best!"

Sasuke smiled, seeing that the relationship Naruto held with his father-figure was very close. He doubted his own relationship with his own dad had ever been that way.

Sasuke thread his fingers through Naruto's and led them to the bed. Naruto looked up and nearly lost himself in the intense, heated gaze held in Sasuke's eyes. He was fairly certain he could spend all eternity simply looking at the other man.

Not entirely sure how to begin, Sasuke decided he should just be blunt about it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a simple, black box. He saw Naruto's eyes widen and he tightened the grip between their hands.

"Merry Christmas, dobe," he spoke softly, pushing the box toward the blonde.

Shakily, Naruto extended his arm and reached for it. He cracked the lid open and let out a gasp.

Inside, was a simple silver chain that shined in the dim light. Attached to it was a somewhat spherical shape, almost identical to that of a teardrop. It was a deep shade of blue, and it sparkled magnificently.

It was beautiful.

And now, all the guilt from before came flooding back. This necklace must have cost a fortune. And how was he supposed to repay that? With a simple thank you? He then wished, more than ever, that he had just picked some random gift. It would have been better than nothing.

Sasuke noticed the blonde's discomfort almost immediately. He felt his insides lurch. Had he screwed up?

"Do you…do you not like it?" he asked softly.

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "No, it's not that. I love it. I mean…it's beautiful. Thank you so much, teme."

Sasuke could feel himself breathe again as Naruto said he liked the gift. Well, that was good. He had been getting nervous. But still…something seemed off.

"I thought the blue would look good with your eyes," he added lightly. When Naruto merely nodded, he frowned.

"Something's wrong," he lifted the blonde's chin in his hand, "what is it?"

Naruto tore away. "God, you get me a gift like that, how am I even supposed to compare?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. So that was what Naruto had been worried about this whole time?

"Dobe, I promise you that I will love anything that you got me—"

"That's just it! I didn't get you anything! I wandered around town for hours today, trying to find the perfect gift for you! But…nothing seemed right. You have everything that you could possibly need. I—I just didn't know. I'm so sorry."

Naruto looked crushed. Sasuke felt his chest constrict.

_He spent hours looking for a gift for me?_

Naruto lowered his gaze, his mind racing. There had to be something, _anything_, he could let Sasuke have. Then, suddenly, an idea hit him. He let out a small smile.

If this was what he needed to do, then he'd do it.

Biting his lip, he began to undo the first button of his shirt.

Sasuke stared at the blonde, dumbstruck. He knew what Naruto was doing, and, as more tan flesh was exposed to his view, he realized he wanted this so badly. After almost giving in to his temptations, he knew he had to put a stop to this.

Naruto stilled, nearly done taking his shirt off, when hands pressed over his own. He looked over, confused. "You don't want to?"

Sasuke licked his lips. "I want to, god I want to so bad. I want _you_ so bad. But not like this. I don't want you to do this because you feel obligated to. Do you honestly think I care about not getting a present? To know that you spent all this time considering what to get me, that's what means the most to me. Knowing that I was on your mind all that time."

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered. Sasuke silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Can I put this on for you?" he asked, gesturing to the chain still inside the box.

Naruto nodded, and, for the first time that night, his face broke out in a genuine smile.

Sasuke carefully removed the chain and clasped it around Naruto's neck gently. The blonde looked down at it and then looked at him.

"What do you think?"

Sasuke felt his mouth go dry.

"Breathtaking."

"Teme, I'm not—"

"No, Naruto. You _are_ beautiful. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Sasuke…I don't even know what to say."

God, how could a single person make him feel so…happy?

"Then don't say anything," Sasuke pulled Naruto close to him and began running fingers through thick, blonde spikes.

"Merry Christmas Sasuke…"

_And thank you_.

--

**An almost lemon…but then I decided to end with fluff instead xD**

**Don't worry though, it's fast approaching! Maybe in the next chapter or two**

**I don't know if any of you even bother to read my profile but I did mention how I'd like to get this fic wrapped up with. So expect an update maybe kinda sorta soonish? We shall see.**

**Please review!**


	12. Trouble

**…**

**I hope you guys didn't have to re-read the first couple of chapters cause you all forgot what this story was even about…**

**A special thank you to Sake-Chama for the PM! (basically reminded me to get off my lazy ass and write this chapter xD)**

**EDIT: had to edit the French part...thank you to GoldChocolateCake! Man, my French is embarassingly bad... **

**Chapter 12: Trouble**

---

"…_Mais l'école c'est tellement ennuyeux." _

"_Oui, je suis d'accord. Eh, Sasuke, j'ai une idée."_

"_J'ai parié que c'est stupide."_

"_Pourquoi? Tu ne l'as pas encore entendue!"_

"_Parce que tu es un __imbécile."_

"—Hey," Naruto cut in, "I don't remember that part being in the original script."

"I did a little editing since the last time you were here," said Sasuke innocently. He smirked and rolled over to avoid the well-aimed pillow to his head.

"Bastard," Naruto muttered, breaking into an adorable pout.

"C'mere," Sasuke let out softly, bringing the warm body lying next to him close. He kissed Naruto's forehead gently before capturing rosy pink lips. The blonde parted his mouth, yielding to the tongue that swept through the open cavern.

Both breathed heavily after pulling away. Sasuke's smirk only widened after pulling away and seeing the pink flush on his boyfriend's cheeks.

"So, I take it you forgive me?" he asked playfully.

Naruto gaped for a second upon realizing what him allowing Sasuke to have his way had just done. He scowled, knowing that he really had no one to blame but himself…and Sasuke's stupid mouth.

"I guess," he replied stiffly.

"Aw, come on dobe, don't be upset. Besides, I'm still seeing you tonight, right?" Sasuke asked, a tinge of hope slipping into his voice. Ever since Christmas he had been thinking of Naruto's offer to him. And of course he never would have accepted it. But still…it had made him think.

He couldn't help but dream of what the blonde would look like beneath him, panting, eyes closed, sweat dripping down golden-tanned skin. Unconsciously, he licked his lips picturing those hips bucking against him, the moans that would be emitted from the mouth from above…

And so he decided that tonight would be the night.

Everything was already planned out and all the supplies bought. He would make it the most unforgettable night of their lives—

"—So Kiba managed to persuade me and I said yes."

"Kiba what?" Sasuke asked, breaking out of his trance.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You haven't been listening to a word I've said, have you?"

"Would it help if I was thinking of how hot you were the whole time?"

Naruto almost caved.

"Nuh-uh," he shook his head violently. "Not gonna work this time. Anyways, what I was _saying_ was that Kiba wanted me to go to that New Year's carnival tonight. And when I told him that I was spending the night with you, he told me to just bring you along too because you were an emo, anti-social bastard who needs to interact more with human beings."

Sasuke grit his teeth. "And what'd you say to that?"

"Um…ok?" Naruto was just the _slightest_ bit scared of the look Sasuke was giving him at the moment. The other didn't look very happy. In fact, Naruto could've _sworn_ Sasuke was growling…

"I'm gonna kill that fucking Inuzuka!"

"Aw, come on Sasuke, don't get upset! It'll be good for you! You are a little socially retarded…I meant that in the nicest way possible!" Naruto hurriedly added at the ferocious glare he received.

"Dobe, I had plans for us tonight. You can't just back out on me now." Sasuke nearly pleaded with him.

"I'm not backing out on you," Naruto soothed, "you're coming with me! That way we'll still be together, ne?"

"That's not the point! I had something special planned for us tonight!"

"Well, we can always do it tomorrow, right? The carnival's a once-a-year thing. After tonight, it'll be gone and then we'll have to wait another whole year before it comes around again," Naruto reasoned.

Sasuke sighed. The mood was officially ruined. Now, even _he_ didn't particularly feel up to what he had been waiting for tonight.

"Fine. But I'm not going with you."

And before he knew it, he was being pinned on his bed.

"You're coming," Naruto stated in a very final tone.

"No, I'm not, dobe," Sasuke bit out, equally as finite.

"Yes you are."

"No. I'm reeeally not."

"Bastard!"

"You can't make me go!"

"The whole point was to get you out of the house for once!"

"Well, what if I _don't like other people_?"

"Then you can just stick with me the whole time!"

"Why the hell is this such a big deal to you whether I go or not?"

"Because I want a goddamn New Year's kiss from my _boyfriend_ you bastard!" Naruto huffed.

Sasuke looked at him in a stunned silence.

So _this_ was what they had really been arguing about?

"W-what?" Sasuke asked in disbelief, more to himself than Naruto.

"I want a New Year's kiss," Naruto mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"Aren't those what girls always fawn over? Or the type of thing you would see in a movie? I mean…" Sasuke began uneasily, not knowing how lightly to tread, "why do you want one? I can kiss you wherever, whenever you like…"

Naruto's eyes closed and he found Sasuke's pale fingers, twining them with his own. Then, he began to speak.

"When I was little, maybe around the time I was six or so, Iruka was dating a man named Hoshi. He would always come over for dinner or take Iruka for a night out. I liked him a lot. He'd always play with me and bring me little presents. I could tell that he made Iruka happy…and that made me happy."

"And then, on New Year's Eve, Iruka wasn't expecting him. But he surprised him and showed up anyways with chocolates for me, and flowers for Iruka. I remember I was so tired, but I wanted to prove that I was a big boy and could stay up until midnight. So, when the clock struck twelve, with my eyes half-open, I walked down the stairs only to find Iruka and Hoshi there. And Hoshi had his arms wrapped around him and he said I couldn't hear. But then they kissed. And when they broke apart, I don't think I ever remember seeing Iruka look like that. Like he was so in love and nothing else in the world mattered. And from that day, I knew that someday…I wanted to look like that."

"Naruto…"

"So," Naruto looked seriously at him, "it would just mean a lot if you would come, ok?"

Sasuke didn't even know what to say. He simply squeezed the hand in his tighter and all was said.

Naruto smiled at him. "Thanks."

They sat in silence for a while, Naruto's head resting on Sasuke's chest, listening to the steady heartbeat that calmed him. Sasuke's fingers tugged lightly on blonde spikes.

"Hey, dobe, how come Hoshi isn't around anymore?"

There was a pause before Naruto responded quietly, "Things didn't end up working out."

Uncomfortable, he said, teasingly, trying to lighten the mood, "Don't tell me that kiss was actually a bad omen,"

"Shut it, bastard," Naruto grinned up at him. "As if anything could break us apart."

Glancing at the time, he hopped off the bed, gave Sasuke a quick peck on the cheek, and ran out the door, shouting something about having to run some errands and seeing him later on that night.

Naruto made his way outside and let out a deep breath. He truly had meant what he had said. The times he had spent with Sasuke had been some of the best of his life. Sometimes, he wondered if Sasuke even knew how bad he had Naruto wrapped around his finger. He would probably do anything for him.

And he could only hope that Sasuke felt the same way.

---

Sasuke mentally groaned at the stack of applications he still needed to finish. He sent the pile his most heated glare, hoping to incinerate it with his eyes.

Its size didn't change.

If things had been different, he was sure that he would have had them all completed by precisely a week ago. He had never been one to procrastinate. But with Naruto now in his life…

It didn't matter though.

There was one school, and only one, that was important to him.

Konoha Law.

The six other universities were simply backups. But Sasuke wouldn't _need_ a backup.

He would _need_ to get into that one school. The one that was so prestigious that its acceptance rate was less than 4%. The one his father attended and Itachi was currently attending.

He would accept nothing less.

A sharp rap on his door interrupted his thoughts.

Sasuke barely had time to respond when the door was pushed open and the man behind it let his presence be known.

Immediately, Sasuke straightened his shoulders.

"Father," he spoke in a hushed tone.

Fugaku nodded curtly at his son, walking to the center of the large room. Sasuke fidgeted just the slightest in his seat, hoping his father didn't see.

"So," Fugaku began carelessly, "how have you been?"

Sasuke must have had a look of utter shock on his face because his father let out a wry smile.

"What? I can't ask about my son?"

"U-uh," _Get a grip on yourself._ "No, no. I'm…fine." Sasuke decided that was the best word to use.

"Fine?" his father went on, "I haven't seen much of you these past few months."

"Yes, I've been rather busy," Sasuke ran a hand through his hair.

His father glanced at the unfinished applications.

"Busy." It wasn't a question.

Sasuke nodded.

His father paused before beginning again. "So why weren't you at the Urasaki's for dinner?"

Sasuke displayed no outward emotion, though he was beginning to panic a bit on the inside. Of course he should have known that his father wouldn't simply forget about things like that. Especially when it involved business.

"I thought Itachi told you. I had work to finish."

Fugaku walked closer to his son. "I had been talking about it for a while. I thought you would have planned your time a little more wisely."

Sasuke looked down. "I'm sorry—"

"—Sasuke," his father cut in. His voice sounded somewhat weary. "Is there anything going on that I should know about? You know you can let me know whatever issues you're having right?"

His son glanced up for a split second, making eye-to-eye contact with his father. They seemed to connect for that slightest moment. And then, it was gone.

"I appreciate your concern father but like I said, you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." Sasuke let out a small smile. He was worried his father would be able to tell he was lying. He usually could.

Instead, Fugaku nodded once before clapping his hand down on Sasuke's shoulder. He stood there for a while longer before making his way to the door. He was halfway out when he turned his head over his shoulder and left some parting words.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up.

"I expect those to be finished by tonight."

And with that, he closed the door.

Sasuke let out the shaky breath he had been holding. He looked at the pile. He looked at the clock.

4:07 pm.

Cradling his head in his hands, he let out a silent scream of frustration.

---

Fugaku's stare hardened after he closed the door.

His gaze made its way to the person standing opposite him, with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"He's been distant. His grades have been dropping. I know something's going on," Fugaku spoke quietly. "And when I find out what…"

Minutes ticked by.

"You wouldn't have any idea, would you?"

Itachi blinked his eyes open.

"No idea," he stated simply.

Fugaku shook his head slightly before brushing past his other son, turning the corner to head to his room.

Itachi watched his father's slow, retreating back.

_Foolish little brother…what have you done?_

---

It was 11 o'clock.

Naruto had arrived at the carnival a little less than two hours ago. He had met up with Kiba and some of his other friends and they had chatted for a while before he went wandering on his own.

He wondered where Sasuke was.

He had expected him to at least be here by now. When Naruto had tried calling him, it had gone straight to his voicemail, which was an odd occurrence. He had thought nothing of it at the time, but now, when there was only an hour toward midnight, he was beginning to get worried.

_Maybe something happened to him…_

No, Naruto thought. Sasuke was fully capable of handling himself under difficult and dangerous situations. Still, that nagging voice was still engrained in his head.

_What if…what if Sasuke truly just didn't want to come?_

Naruto bit his lip. No, that couldn't be it either. Sasuke knew how much this meant to him…he wouldn't just _not_ come.

_So where is he_? The voice in his head asked.

Had Sasuke just forgotten?

He pulled out his phone and checked the time again.

11:21

It was ok. There was still time.

He sat himself on an empty bench and waited.

11:37.

Waited, and waited, and waited.

11:52.

Sasuke…

"Naruto!"

Kiba rushed over and grabbed his best friend's arm eagerly. Naruto could tell that he had been drinking. "C'mon, the fireworks are gonna start soon! You can't sit here by yourself—hey—wait, where's Uchiha?" His eyes scanned the vicinity but he couldn't see the raven anywhere.

"I don't know," Naruto replied truthfully.

"Ah, that stupid prick," Kiba slurred cheerfully, "its'ok, you don't need him to have fun! Now, hurry!"

Naruto allowed himself to be dragged away by his drunken friend to where all the excitement was. But even so, Naruto couldn't find it in his heart to be very excited himself.

The minute countdown began.

Eyes looked toward the sky. Children squealed and clapped their hands together in anticipation. There was laughter coming from all around.

Naruto tried to smile.

"10"

"9"

"8"

"7"

"5!" Kiba screeched loudly in Naruto's ear, his arm slung over the blonde's shoulder, before waltzing off. He was clearly oblivious to the fact that he had just missed a number.

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

Fireworks exploded into the sky in all different colors and shapes. Blue, green, yellow, red, purple stars all blended together to produce an illuminated sky. Loud banging noises filled the air, but they were partially drowned out from the cheers and shouts of the crowd below.

Naruto looked around and his eyes dimmed at what he saw. Everyone, it seemed, was locked in a kiss. There were Shikamaru and Temari by the cotton candy booth and Neji and Gaara, with the redhead fisting his hands through silky, black locks. Hell, even Kiba had cornered Hinata, who was bright red, and though he had gone in for her lips, he missed and got the side of her cheek instead. Adults held hands and kissed each other on the cheeks and even shy little children all found someone to share the moment with.

_Everyone looks so happy_.

Naruto gave a small smile.

He was glad for his friends, as well as for everybody else.

Turning his head and shoving his hands in his pockets, he took one last look at the shimmering sky overhead before leaving.

---

Sasuke scribbled furiously, his mind trying to come up with what to write next. He had been working for hours now and he was in desperate need for a break. He was on empty right now. Everything that he was writing down was not processing through his head. It didn't have any meaning.

He was so close to being finished. He was on his last essay, the one for Konoha Law.

But this one proved to be the most difficult. He realized that he had been a dumbass for trying to save the "best for last." In reality, his brain was completely busted and whatever he was trying to say at that moment was complete crap.

Shooting a glance toward his clock, he winced.

12:24

Naruto was going to _kill_ him.

"Damn it," he cursed aloud.

He had two choices that he could make and he knew it.

Deciding that very instant what to do, he snatched his keys off his drawer and quickly made his way downstairs. He just about made it out the door when he was pulled back.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Sasuke glowered at his brother's gaze.

"I'm going to find Naruto," he bit out, "now let me go."

"You can't keep doing this, otouto," Itachi kept his voice calm, as though trying to reason with him. "Father suspects something. It's not safe. Go upstairs now."

"I can't do that." Sasuke said defiantly, walking one step closer to the door.

"Sasuke, stop being a coward. If you don't tell father, then I'll do it for you," Itachi hissed angrily at him.

Sasuke turned around. He bit the inside of his cheek.

"Itachi," he pleaded softly, "please…please don't."

Itachi softened his eyes, but continued to stare at his younger brother. "If you know what's good for you otouto, you'll break up with him."

Sasuke said nothing, closing the door shut behind him.

---

_Naruto…where are you?_

Sasuke had already tried the carnival, but he couldn't spot the blonde anywhere. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. He was so tired, but he wouldn't stop until he found Naruto.

It was nearly one in the morning. Sasuke was beginning to get more and more desperate.

He can't have walked very far from the carnival…

An idea hit Sasuke suddenly.

There was a small lake several hundred yards from the site of the carnival. The two of them had been there a few times before when either of them needed to clear their heads. And sure enough, when Sasuke pulled up close enough, there was an outline of a single silhouette in the darkness.

Naruto…

Screeching his car to a halt and not even bothering to turn the engine off, he yanked the door open and ran as hard as he could, kicking sand up everywhere.

Spinning the body to face him, Sasuke caught a glimpse of Naruto's stunned eyes before he crashed their lips together.

Sasuke waited nervously for Naruto to respond to his touch. Seconds went by and he was beginning to lose hope…

Then, he felt arms wrap tightly around his back and lips press back against his with renewed vigor.

The kiss was long and passionate, full of tongue and teeth and everything else imaginable. Pulling back for some much needed air, Sasuke tilted Naruto's chin so that blue eyes met black.

"God…Naruto…I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry—" Sasuke breathed, still out of breath from his run. "I'm so, so sorry."

Naruto held the other's gaze. He saw so many emotions flow through those dark eyes. Eyes that, before Naruto, used to be so cold and lifeless.

Slowly, he let out a beautiful smile that warmed Sasuke's insides.

"You're late, bastard."

Sasuke's laughter rang loud and clear.

---

Itachi knocked once on the large, wooden door leading to his father's study.

"Come in," was the response from the other side.

Coming face to face with his father, he nearly hesitated.

He couldn't believe that he was actually about to do this.

"What is it, Itachi?" Fugaku asked, frowning.

Itachi's eyes betrayed nothing.

"There's something you should know…"

---

The next morning, Sasuke awoke to find his father already in his room. He swallowed nervously, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to happen.

"Sasuke…I'm proud of you."

Sasuke felt his jaw drop, but he caught himself.

_What?_

"Itachi came to me last night. He told me everything."

"And what exactly did he say?" Sasuke wanted to know.

"Oh, well he called it a business venture. Though I'm not sure I'd use those words exactly," Fugaku thought to himself.

Having absolutely no idea what was going on, Sasuke decided that it would be better to have faith in his brother and simply go along with whatever the hell he was trying to pull.

"I'm glad you approve, father."

Fugaku nodded. "I think the program you're creating for charity is very honorable. Not to mention good for colleges to see. Though I can't imagine why you would hide that from me…"

"I just wanted to show you that I could do things independently, without your help. I wanted to prove to you that I could manage it with school and everything else," Sasuke prayed his voice wasn't quivering.

Fugaku smiled at his son. "Ah, a true Uchiha."

When his father had left, Sasuke scampered out of his room and practically ran down the hall to his brother's.

He barged in without knocking to find Itachi calmly reading the morning paper.

"How the hell did you manage to pull that off?" asked Sasuke in disbelief.

Itachi didn't even spare him a glance.

"I learned from the best," was his deadpanned response.

Sasuke shivered lightly, knowing exactly what Itachi meant by that.

"Aniki…" he whispered.

"I didn't fix your problem, otouto. I only bought you some time. Father was always good at uncovering the truth. That's what made him such a good lawyer. It's only a matter of time before he finds out. And he _will_ find out. So you'd better watch yourself. Now, kindly, get out."

Sasuke didn't move.

"Thank you." He couldn't believe his brother had come through twice for him.

Itachi sighed.

"Don't thank me for anything. Like I said, I only bought you time."

_And this could always work against you._

"But—"

"Go eat your breakfast. It's getting cold."

Realizing that the conversation was over, Sasuke closed the door softly behind him and leaned his head against the wall.

Itachi's words rang in his head.

_It's only a matter of time before he finds out_.

Shaking it off, he decided that, at least for now, it appeared as though everything was going to be ok.

---

**Here's a translation of what Sasuke and Naruto were saying in French in the beginning:**

"…**But school is so boring."**

"**Yeah, I agree. Eh, Sasuke, I have an idea."**

"**I bet it's stupid."**

"**Why? You haven't heard it yet."**

"**Because you're an imbecile."**

**So, more of the plot is being revealed. I was going to end it with Itachi going to his father's room but then I decided to write a little more. Let's just say that this story's pretty much going to go somewhat downhill from here…**

**Please review!**


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